Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by thanking also my friend, Representative Pearce from New Mexico, for offering this amendment with me. Mr. Chair, during our committee work on portions of this bill, I raised this issue and offered a similar amendment. So I appreciate Representative Pearce for working with me to improve the bill for Indian Country. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment because it will provide some limited, though not complete, legal protection for Indian Tribes and their water rights. That said, I continue to have grave concerns with the underlying bill and the impact it will have on Indian Country. Even if this amendment is adopted, the underlying bill will cause significant harm to Indian Country. For example, in title 4 of this bill, it blocks emergency water releases that prevent disease outbreaks for Tribal fisheries in California's Klamath River. The provision will significantly increase the risk of widespread fish kills and lead to tragic losses for Tribal communities. While this amendment doesn't mitigate all of the negative impacts of this bill, it will improve the bill somewhat by including an additional legal protection for Tribal rights that will preserve past, pending, or future Tribal water rights settlements. Mr. Chair, I urge support for this amendment.”