Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in qualified support of S. 3168. I agree with the goals of this bill, which are to build a water storage project and provide a Tribe a mechanism to develop its legal water rights. The White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 intended to meet those stated goals. However, the legislation before us today is now the third time that Congress has needed to revisit that 2010 law. It is not surprising because when Congress considered the underlying law that this bill amends, the Obama administration testified it had concerns with the legislation. Then-Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor stated that his agency ``determined the Tribe's cost estimate . . . is not sufficiently detailed or comprehensive to provide the necessary assurance that the project can be constructed for that amount of money.'' The Democrat majority at the time ignored the warnings of the Obama administration. As a result, the cost of the dam that would help deliver water to the reservation has ballooned. Fast forward 12 years later, and here we are with this settlement in serious jeopardy due to unworkable timelines. Now we are rushing to fix mistakes that could have been avoided in 2010. This bill would extend the settlement's enforceability deadline from April 2023 to December of 2027.…”