On the recordJuly 16, 2015
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015. My Water Rights Protection Act, incorporated as part of H.R. 2898, would uphold State water law and priority-based systems and provide water users with a line of defense from increasingly brazen Federal attempts to take private water rights without compensation. These Federal water grabs undermine long-held State water law, priority-based systems, and our private priority rights. By extorting water rights from those who hold water rights under State law, the Federal Government is overreaching, violating private property rights and the U.S. Constitution. Federal land management agency attempts to take or to control private water rights and circumvent State law have put the ski community, grazers, municipalities, and local businesses at risk. These private property rights are vital to Colorado and to the Western U.S. when it pertains to water. Many businesses depend on them as collateral to be able to get loans, expand, and create jobs. Water is our lifeblood. Water users need certainty that the Federal land management agencies are prohibited from future attempts to take privately held water rights. This legislation offers a sensible approach to preserve those rights. I urge its passage.
