Here's the point. A lot of you have said Ron, I'd really like you to crack heads.

WaterWatch has supported federal legislation in the past, such as the 2002 Farm Bill's Klamath amendment, passed through the United States Senate with the leadership of Senator Wyden.

Thank you again for holding this hearing.

I respectfully and emphatically urge this committee to act quickly to introduce legislation that would see the Klamath Restoration Agreements fully enacted as soon as possible.

It's only possible to have this approach that really brings people together when we have colleagues like you make it possible.

I want to pledge to Oregonians that California is going to pay its fair share of this program.

I believe all parties should have a chance to have input before the committee advances any legislation.

there are a lot of families hurting right now.

I wanted to thank you personally for your interest.

If we had achieved political consensus, however, no matter how you feel about that, we wouldn't be here this morning.

Senator Murkowski had a lot to do here this morning, but she wanted to put in an hour because she understands that this is a proxy.

The determination of water rights is exclusively within the purview of our States.

After considerable thought, I've concluded that the KBRA and essentially what has been agreed to at this point, is simply unaffordable in the current Federal budget environment.

a significant reduction may be necessary given present budget rules and realities

My message on this point is working together in good faith there's got to be a way to accomplish the agreement's objectives with a lower price tag.

Nobody in a challenging situation like this gets everything they want.

We're going to stay at it until we find a solution this time.

Suffice it to say what we're trying to do is sort of throw out the textbook with respect to a lot of these issues.