January 29, 2010 at 1:30 pm – MSNBC – Dateline: Baltimore, MD
“The truth of the matter is that, if you look at the health care process, just over the course of the year, overwhelmingly the majority of it actually was on C-SPAN because it was taking place in Congressional hearings in which you guys were participating. How many committees were that that helped to shape this bill? Countless hearings took place.”
January 29, 2010 at 2:50 pm – C-SPAN – Dateline: Baltimore, MD
“Why would I resist that?”
January 29, 2010 at 1:43 pm – MSNBC – Dateline: Baltimore, MD
“We didn’t have earmarks in the Recovery Act. We didn’t get a lot of credit for it, but there were no earmarks in that. I was confronted at the beginning of my term with an Omnibus package that did have a lot earmarks from republicans and democrats — and a lot of people in this chamber. And the question was was I going to have a big budget fight at a time when I was still trying to figure out whether or not the financial decision was melting down and we had to make a whole bunch of emegency decisions about the economy. So what I was was, ‘Let’s keep them to a minimum.’ But I couldn’t excise them all.”
January 29, 2010 at 1:46 pm – MSNBC-Dateline: Baltimore, MD
“There has not been an administration that was tougher on making sure that lobbyists weren’t participating in the administration than any administration that has come before us.”
BREITBART: THE PREZ DOES Q & A WITH REPUBLICANS
‘Overwhelmingly’: Obama Claims Most of Health Care Debate WAS on C-SPAN
“The truth of the matter is that, if you look at the health care process, just over the course of the year, overwhelmingly the majority of it actually was on C-SPAN because it was taking place in Congressional hearings in which you guys were participating. How many committees were that that helped to shape this bill? Countless hearings took place.”
Obama: ‘I Am Not an Ideologue’
“Why would I resist that?”
Obama Defends Earmarks in Omnibus Spending Bill
“We didn’t have earmarks in the Recovery Act. We didn’t get a lot of credit for it, but there were no earmarks in that. I was confronted at the beginning of my term with an Omnibus package that did have a lot earmarks from republicans and democrats — and a lot of people in this chamber. And the question was was I going to have a big budget fight at a time when I was still trying to figure out whether or not the financial decision was melting down and we had to make a whole bunch of emegency decisions about the economy. So what I was was, ‘Let’s keep them to a minimum.’ But I couldn’t excise them all.”
Obama: We’ve Been ‘Very Consistent’ in Limiting Influence of Lobbyists
“There has not been an administration that was tougher on making sure that lobbyists weren’t participating in the administration than any administration that has come before us.”