About
Dave
Every American who works hard should be able to fully share in
the bounty of America and so should their families. That is the
bedrock belief of the Wisconsin La Follette Progressive tradition
since the days of its founder, Senator Robert La Follette, and it
is the belief that drives Wisconsin’s 7th District Congressman
Dave Obey today.
Growing Up in Wisconsin
Dave grew up in Wausau where he and his wife, Joan, both went to
St. James Catholic school. Both graduated from Wausau East High
School together and both went on to receive Bachelor’s degrees
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dave did his graduate
work in Soviet politics at the University of Wisconsin under a National
Defense Education Act three-year scholarship and fully expected
to be teaching Russian and Chinese politics before he took a turn
toward public service.
The Roots of His Values
Dave’s experiences while growing up have shaped his convictions
and priorities in the work he does in Congress today.
Working in his father’s floor covering business for a number
of years, Dave sometimes worked with asbestos products. It was not
until he began his service in the Congress that he discovered that
asbestos caused cancer, although one of the manufacturers had known
since 1939. That is one of the reasons why Dave fights for measures
to protect worker health and safety and to give workers and neighborhoods
the right to know what kind of dangerous chemicals and compounds
they are being exposed to.
When Dave was very young, his father went to the hospital for an
operation and came back with his arms paralyzed. "Nobody knew
what caused it," Dave said. "But after a number of months,
he slowly regained the use of his arms. We were scared. That experience
taught me that working families are often just one paycheck away
from economic disaster. And it showed me first-hand the importance
of every family having access to good health care."
The month that Dave went away to Madison to finish his college
education, his father lost his job at 3-M company (his father often
worked at two jobs to make ends meet). "That scared me,"
Dave recalls, "because I had no idea how much help I would
get from home in finishing my education. And that experience burned
into me the conviction that access to education ought to be based
on how much you are willing to learn and how hard you are willing
to work, not on how many dollars your family has in their bank account."
During his college years, Dave worked summers at a local paper
mill where he gained a healthy respect for how hard some people
have to work in order to make a decent living for their families.
He also witnessed some things that he vowed he would change if
he ever had a chance. "I remember taking our 20-minute lunch
breaks and sitting on the steps on the back porch at the plant and
seeing these huge pipes pour this junk into the Wisconsin River,"
Dave recalled. "I vowed at the time that if I ever had the
chance to do anything to make industry stop using our rivers and
streams as liquid dumps I would do it, and we have made some great
progress through the years."
"I also remember that every time I visited my grandmother,
who lived on Third Avenue in Wausau, you had to take a rag and wipe
off the chairs and the porch swing because the were covered with
dust and grime from the junk that was coming out of the smokestack
at 3-M Company. Today, that doesn’t happen anymore, and I
am proud to have been able to play at least a small role in bringing
that progress about."
State Legislative Experience
The same year that Dave married Joan Lepinski, he ran for the State
Legislature and won. He served three full terms in the Wisconsin
State Assembly, representing Marathon County, rising to the position
of Assistant Democratic Leader. He played a key role in creating
Wisconsin’s modern system of Technical College Districts,
for which he won national recognition, and in establishing the state’s
network of public broadcasting stations. He also was an early sponsor
of Wisconsin’s pioneering Homestead Tax Relief Act for senior
citizens and served on the state commission that established Wisconsin’s
first Medicaid law.
Legislative Priorities
When Dave began his service in the Congress — succeeding Mel
Laird, who was appointed Secretary of Defense — he was the
youngest Member of Congress in the United States.
Long Record of Reform
Dave has become a leading spokesman for political and congressional
reform.
As a junior Member of the House, he threw his support behind efforts
to open committee hearings to the public (when Dave first went to
Congress, many of those public hearings were held behind closed
doors). In addition, Dave sponsored and pushed through rules changes
which required powerful Appropriations Subcommittee chairs to be
voted on by the full Caucus, rather than simply becoming Chairman,
in order to make certain that they were not arbitrary or out of
touch.
He was appointed by the House Speaker to chair a commission which
wrote a new Code of Ethics for the House, under which more than
20 Members have been disciplined. Under the Obey reforms, for the
first time, Members of Congress were required to provide meaningful
disclosure of their financial affairs in order to alert the public
to any to any potential conflicts of interest. Those reforms also
placed severe limits on what Members of Congress could make on the
side moonlighting, again in order to minimize conflicts of interest.
Up until that time, a number of Members had earned more than $100,000
a year practicing law on the side — even sometimes representing
lobbyists as clients!
His reforms also ended the ability of Members of Congress to put
campaign fund surpluses into their own pockets when they retired.
Dave’s support for reform is undiminished today.
Committee Assignments
Dave is the only Democratic Member of the House to have served on
the three major economic committees in the Congress:
The Budget Committee, on which his six-year service included chairing
the Task Force on Worker Productivity.The Joint Economic Committee,
which conducts long-term analysis of trends in the economy. Dave
has served two terms as Chair of the Committee. During that time,
he and Senator Paul Sarbanes co-edited a book, The Changing American
Economy, which was a result of a Committee-sponsored symposium on
the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Full
Employment Act of 1946.
The Committee on Appropriations, which makes funding decisions on
every discretionary program in the federal budget. Dave is the senior
Democrat on the Committee. In that capacity, he serves as a member
of all thirteen Appropriations Subcommittees, listed below:
* Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and
Related Agencies
* Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary
* Defense
* District of Columbia
* Energy and Water Development
* Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs
* Interior
* Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
* Legislative
* Military Construction
* Transportation
* Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government
* Veterans, Housing, and Independent Agencies
As Ranking Minority Member, Dave is the Democratic spokesman on
appropriations issues.
Dave has established good working relationships and strong personal
friendships with his Republican counterparts on the Committee, including
Republican Chairman Bill Young. "I have an obligation to fight
and to fight hard for what I believe in and for the progressive
principles that we are supposed to defend," Dave stated. "But
that doesn’t mean that you have to dislike people you disagree
with and it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to have
bipartisan friendships in this place. Life’s too short to
have it any other way."
Priorities
Education is a key priority for Dave, and he is one of the two House
leaders in strengthening federal investments in education. Dave
believes our children deserve to be taught in smaller classes by
well-trained teachers in safe, modern buildings. He also believes
that every student willing to work should be able to get a college
education.
A second priority is health care. Dave is a House leader in doubling
federal investments in medical research and in expanding access
to affordable health care. He believes every American should be
covered by affordable health insurance, that managed care patients
need a Bill of Rights, and that Medicare should provide affordable
prescription drug coverage for seniors.
Dave fought tirelessly for years against unsound policies that created
exploding deficits in the 1980's.
Dave believes in affordable tax cuts fairly distributed to all taxpayers.
But he opposes tax cuts needlessly paid for with borrowed dollars,
especially if the lion’s share of those tax cuts are targeted
to the most well-off one percent of Americans – who need help
the least. Tax cuts for the most well-off that are financed by borrowing
money from Social Security and Medicare are irresponsible. They
cripple our efforts to bring down the national debt and stop us
from making key investments in education and science to keep the
economy strong. They also foolishly guarantee that we won’t
have the money to keep Social Security and Medicare strong.
Dave also believes passionately that agriculture policy should help
family dairy farmers, rather large corporate farm operations. Dave
has worked tirelessly to reform outmoded milk marketing order policy
and to provide supplemental payments to dairy farmers who have been
hard hit by collapsing milk prices.
A protégé and disciple of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Gaylord
Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, Dave also has a strong commitment
to the environment. He has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent
anti-environmental riders threatening our air, waters, and resources
from being attached to appropriations bills. Recently, a Midwestern
environmental leader said of his efforts, "Without Dave Obey,
the anti-environmental forces in Congress would be riding roughshod
over our public lands, and clean air and water protections. He has
been the guardian at the environmental gate."
Dave has been a key leader in responding to the events of September
11. Within a week after the attack, Dave and Congressman Bill Young
(R-FL) pushed through the House a bipartisan $40 billion emergency
response package. He followed that up with action to increased investments
above the President’s request in homeland security activities
to provide greater security on our borders, in our ports, in rail
and air transportation, in securing the safety of our food supply,
in mounting an aggressive effort to help local public health agencies
to be better prepared against the possibility of chemical or biological
attacks, and by increasing the resources available to modernize
the FBI computer system and to increase the ability of intelligence
in the law enforcement agencies to better communicate with one another.
Personal Interests
Dave enjoys playing the harmonica and performs with his two sons
and some friends in a bluegrass band, "The Capitol Offenses",
which has recorded three albums.
Awards
Some of the awards Dave has received for his work include:
HealthHealth Leadership Award from the Wisconsin Medical Society
– for contributions to develop policies benefiting the health
and welfare of Wisconsin.Legislative Achievement Award from the
Coalition for Health Care – for leadership in advancing America’s
ability to combat disease.
Polio Eradication Champion Award fromthe Rotary Club – for
playing a key role in combating polio.
Legislative Service Award from the National Association of Community
Health Centers – for leadership in expanding health care to
the uninsured.
Presidential Award for Distinguished Service from the U.S. Committee
for UNICEF – for work to advance the health and education
of the world’s children.Leadership Award from Kiwanis
International – for efforts to improve the health of America’s
children.
Children’s Mental Health Lifetime Award from the National
Mental Health Association – for advocacy on behalf of children
with severe mental disorders.
Distinguished Service Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill – for efforts to increase understanding and treatment
of mental illness.
EducationNational Education Service Award from the American Association
of Community Colleges for Leadership – for enhancing access
to the nation’s community colleges.William H. Natcher Congressional
Distinguished Service Award from the Committee for Education Funding
– for leadership in public education.
Legislative Leadership Award from the Wisconsin Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities – for leading the effort to expand
student financial aid.
Leadership Award from the American Folk Life Center – for
efforts to document and preserve American folk life traditions.
Certificate of Appreciation from Smithsonian Folk Life Festival
– for expanding the knowledge of different cultures and nations.
Retirement SecurityClaude Pepper Award from the National Council
on Senior Citizens – for distinguished service in protecting
and strengthening Social Security
Agriculture
Presidential Award for Leadership from the National Farmers Union
– for work on behalf of family farmers in the dairy industry.
Farmers Union Milk Marketing Cooperative Recognition – for
outstanding service to the family farmers and dairy industry of
Wisconsin
Golden Triangle Award – for outstanding leadership on behalf
of family farm agriculture
Veterans HealthMeritorious Service Award from Wisconsin State Department
– for work on behalf of American Ex Prisoners of War.
Government Affairs Recognition Award from the Vietnam Veterans of
America – for support and direct assistance with Agent Orange
Benefits Act.
Certificate of Commendation from the State of Wisconsin’s
Department of Veterans Affairs – for outstanding contributions
to the welfare of veterans in Wisconsin and throughout the nation.
Congressional ReformPolitical Reform Award from Common Cause –
for leadership on campaign finance reform.
Environment
Ansel Adams Conservation Award from the Wilderness Society –
for continuous efforts to protect and preserve America’s natural
heritage.
International Energy Efficiency Award from the Energy Conservation
Forum – for leadership in supporting energy conservation internationally.
Workers
Worker Champion Award from the 7th Congressional District AFL-CIO
– for continuous advocacy of the needs of America’s
working men and women. |
