Jerry Lewis: “I must say that in the initial stages of my hearing this discussion, I was intrigued to see both my colleague, the…”

“I must say that in the initial stages of my hearing this discussion, I was intrigued to see both my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) speaking, and he was being aided by his friend, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Bruce Vento), and it was almost deja vu all over again. I remember fighting months on this, fighting to get access to our desert lands by both the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Miller), and the thrill of that process was that we won a few. I have a sense we might win a few today, as well, for there is little question that this coalition has gone together that is a nonpartisan, bipartisan effort to make sure that this tremendous asset, the Salton Sea, is saved, finally. It is going forward. I must say to my friend, it is going forward almost entirely because of the rather fantastic leadership of the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono), the new congresswoman from Riverside County, who has done a phenomenal job to make sure we keep our eye on this very important target.”