Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- ``I said, `The hell with you.'''

Representative David Obey, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is describing an exchange with the rock star Bono, who came to Washington in December to lobby for international AIDS programs.

``I don't need any lectures from an Irishman to tell me what the hell our obligation is,'' says Obey, 69, who adds that he is himself of Irish descent and held hearings on AIDS ``before I ever heard of Bono.''

Now Obey is the Democrats' leader in a looming battle over spending with President George W. Bush, who has threatened to veto their plans to spend $23 billion more next year on education, health care and veterans' programs.

Bush had better be prepared. Over the years, Obey has called President Bill Clinton a ``goddamn liar,'' labeled New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's aides ``thugs'' and tagged House Minority Leader John Boehner as a ``third-rate'' Joseph McCarthy.

``Who is getting screwed in George Bush's budget? It's the little guy,'' Obey, who's in his 38th year representing Wisconsin in the House, said in an interview. ``He's going to veto our bills'' because Democrats want to give ``a few table scraps to the people in this society who get so damn little.''

`Belly-Bumping'

The fight will play out over the coming months as Democrats, writing their first budget in a dozen years, begin sending Bush the 12 annual appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government. Leading the negotiations for the administration will be White House Budget Director Jim Nussle, 47, a former Republican congressman with a history of frosty relations with Democrats. Obey recently called Nussle a ``belly-bumping, hard- line conservative.''

``I can't imagine how he and Mr. Nussle are going to be even in the same room,'' says Bill Hoagland, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's top budget aide. ``It would just be gasoline on the fire.''

Nussle's spokesman, Sean Kevelighan, didn't respond to requests for comment.

Obey's goal is to shore up a host of programs dear to Democrats. His budget includes increased spending for schools, hospitals, medical research, college-tuition aid and health care for veterans. ``The investments that we make in these bills make us a stronger country,'' Obey says.

War Tax

Yesterday, he said he would propose a $150 billion surtax to pay for U.S. military operations in Iraq, with rates that may reach 15 percent for the wealthiest Americans. The plan faces opposition from Bush and some Democratic lawmakers.

``If this war is important enough to fight, it's important enough to pay for,'' Obey told reporters. ``If you don't like the cost, then shut down the war.''

Former colleagues say he can be a formidable advocate. ``Obey can look across the table at you and say, `Well, if we do what you want to do, 40,000 children won't have a school to go to or 80,000 elderly won't be able to get Meals on Wheels,''' said Jim Dyer, former Republican staff director of the House Appropriations Committee.

Obey traces his support for such programs to his childhood, when his family struggled to pay its bills. In a recent memoir, he described regular trips to the pawn shop. He recalls ``burning with embarrassment'' when a family friend bought his mother groceries and describes a sense of panic after his father was temporarily disabled by an injury.

`Tenuous Grip'

``That experience taught me at an early age what a tenuous grip most working families have on security,'' Obey wrote in the book, ``Raising Hell for Justice.''

Obey graduated from the University of Wisconsin before winning, at age 24, a seat in the state Legislature. Six years later, in 1969, he won a special election to replace Melvin Laird, who resigned his northern Wisconsin House seat to become President Richard Nixon's defense secretary. At the time, Obey was the youngest member of the House; he's now the third-longest serving.

Since arriving in Washington, Obey's caustic one-liners have become well-known on Capitol Hill. He has called the Iraq war ``stupid,'' ``misbegotten'' and a ``long-term babysitting service'' for Iraqi politicians. At the same time, he was caught on tape this year arguing with antiwar activists, whom he called ``idiot liberals.'' He says they have an unrealistic view of the Democrats' ability to force Bush to change course in Iraq.

`Magic Wand'

``They thought we could wave a magic wand and end the war,'' Obey says of the incident.

During a budget dispute with Clinton, Obey once issued a statement designed, he said, to let the administration know he wouldn't be led around ``like a puppy.'' ``I think most of us learned some time ago that if you don't like the president's position on a particular issue, you simply need to wait a few weeks,'' Obey said.

Earlier this year, Obey lamented not throwing Bloomberg's aides out of his office when, he said, they threatened him with television ads if he didn't support the mayor's efforts to loosen federal restrictions on gun-buying data. The mayor is majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

Obey's style, not surprisingly, has made him some enemies. ``He's terribly acerbic,'' says Hoagland, now vice president for public policy at Cigna Corp., the Philadelphia-based insurer. ``He disagrees and is disagreeable.''

Obey shrugs off questions about his sharp tongue: ``In this town, there's too much tolerance for bull.''

He adds a syllable at the end.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 3, 2007 10:05 EDT