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Player of the Week: Rep. David Obey

by The Hill Editors - 09/28/10 10:00 AM ET

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey will be shepherding the only legislative train that is moving through Congress this week: a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the government until the lame-duck session.

Republicans have warned Democrats not to load up the CR with extraneous provisions, and while there is some chatter about a government shutdown, it won’t happen because both parties (especially Democrats) want to get home to campaign.

{mosads}Because the CR is a stopgap funding measure, it will not be remembered for long. But Obey, who is retiring, will be.

The 20-term incumbent earlier this year disputed speculation that he was not seeking reelection because Republicans had targeted his seat.

In typically blunt style, Obey said, “Let me put it this way. I’ve won 25 elections. Does anybody really think I don’t know how to win another one? Or for that matter, has anyone ever seen me walk away from a fight in my life?”

The 72-year-old lawmaker is a fighter. He has clashed with members of both parties, getting into physical confrontations on the House floor with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) last year and Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) in 1997.

But Obey said in May that he is “bone-tired.”

“There’s a time to stay and there’s a time to go. And this is my time to go,” he said.

The Wisconsin lawmaker opposed the Vietnam and Iraq wars and pressed President Obama in 2009 to show real progress on the war in Afghanistan. A year later, he made clear he was not satisfied, voting against a war supplemental bill in July that he helped to craft.

Many on the right do not like Obey, but Republicans on Capitol Hill agree that his departure is the end of an era.