I appreciate your commitment to the rebalance of the Asia-Pacific region.

Madam Speaker, earlier this week, our friends on the other side of the Capitol, the Democrats, burned the midnight oil in a strange effort to call attention to global warming. Unfortunately, for some of our friends in the Senate, hot air…

Madam President, I rise today to thank my colleagues for adopting a moment ago an important amendment to this underlying bill. It is an amendment to provide for evidence-based training in efforts that promote early language development and…

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to commend the gentleman from Oklahoma for his hard work on behalf of Native Americans. American Indian tribes rely on their water rights to provide critical supplies to their…

Madam Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Gardner), who I think was a member of the committee but is not anymore.

Madam Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining? The CHAIR. The gentleman from Washington has 4\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Colorado has 2\1/2\ minutes remaining

Madam Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), the sponsor of the underlying legislation.

Madam Chairman, I am prepared to close. I have the right to close, so I will reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I yield myself the balance of the time. I have to say, the debate on the underlying bill in this amendment I find rather interesting--no, maybe bizarre is better than that. The issue here is whether we should protect the…

Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill does one thing and one thing only: it stops the Federal Government from extorting water rights from private citizens and businesses without just compensation. That is what the underlying bill does. But, Mr…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is with some dismay that I have to address some of the comments that have been made by my good friend and colleague from Colorado. Unfortunately, through their own words, they are willing…

Madam Chair, after listening to our Democrat colleague's statement, probably the best thing that we can do to be able to allay their fears is for them to read the bill. It actually protects private property rights, and let me fill in the…

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk. The CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 3, line 13, insert ``(including joint and sole ownership)'' after ``water right''. Page 4, line…

Madam Chair, I offer this amendment to further strengthen and improve this bipartisan bill. As we heard during general debate, the bill has one goal: to eliminate Federal extortion of private property. The Federal Government cannot and…

Madam Chair, I suppose I can bring some good news. It is not a 5-page bill, but actually a 3-page bill that we have actually put forward. What I think we are really frustrated about is that we often hear from our colleagues that they want…

Madam Chair, how much time remains? The CHAIR. The gentleman from Colorado has 1\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from California has 2\1/2\ minutes remaining.

Madam Chair, for the point of clarity, to ease the concerns of my colleague from Colorado, the National Ski Areas Association endorses this bill today. That has not changed. Also, to alleviate the concerns that you just demonstrated, no…

Madam Chair, again, I will refer my colleagues to the text of the bill. No Federal water rights that they currently have are going to be impaired. That includes national parks. We continue to hear about the upcoming Polis amendment. The…