Rubén Gallego

I remain committed to working with you to ensure your organizations have the resources and authorities required to address these challenges in an era of great power competition.

Since it is pretty obvious which of those I prefer, and which would objectively make the most sense if we are having a serious discussion of water needs in the year 2023, instead of 1923.

These realities are even worse for Indigenous women and girls, which is why we have worked together in the past legislation addressing this crisis of violence.

Last Congress, Democrats provided significant investments for drought mitigation and climate resilience, including $8.3 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and $4 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act.

We shouldn't have to wait for a crisis to make good decisions. We should be proactive.

We need storage and better conveyance capacity for agricultural water supplies, for drinking water, for recreation, and for the environment.

If we want California agricultural production and the associated food security that accompanies it, we need to meaningfully invest in our infrastructure.

Removing federal protections for these grizzly populations will pave the way for trophy hunting and subject bears to ever-increasing levels of persecution.

It is beyond ironic that Rep. Boebert is working to undermine the will of Colorado voters to bring back wolves to the state.

What happened then? Well, Idaho authorized the killing of 90 percent of their 1,500 wolves.

How much can we afford to spend?

We saw it play out in the months after the Trump administration delisted the wolf and the greater Yellowstone grizzly.

These bills ignore science, rather than trust it.

These bills would legislatively delist the species we are talking about--the gray wolf and grizzly bear.

Enacting these bills would indeed undermine the successful recovery of these species and the rule of law.

Congress has no business listing or delisting species.

The sheer hubris of these bills is impressive.

The gray wolves are more popular than some of the politicians that want to delist them.

We will have discussions about how to make this law work better.

Those who would say that this law is perfect are wrong.

Any law can be improved, and that is what we are about.

When you talk about climate, because our water challenges and shortages in the West are not driven by the Endangered Species Act, radical environmentalists, or the deep state--in fact, the principal driving force is climate change.

Sadly, although we would have loved for this to be truly bipartisan, we did not have the support of most Republicans on this Committee.

We passed the most significant climate change investment in history, and that included $4 billion for drought mitigation, $550 million for tribal drinking water projects, $2.6 billion for habitat resilience and fisheries science.

I will go ahead and say you are welcome, because during the 117th Congress, Democrats enacted real, sustainable solutions that improve water access for American households, the environment, fishermen, and the agricultural industry.