Political Quotes

“As my colleague from New Mexico noted, Wayne Aspinall of Colorado stated: ``When you touch water in the West, you touch everything.'' We have that shared concern that that water is going to be preserved. In the West, water is a private property right. We have State law. We have priority-based systems, which have always been recognized by the Federal Government. Unfortunately, we have seen and reflected in this portion of the legislation that we are discussing today, the Federal Government reaching out to be able to require conditional use of permit water rights to be signed over to the Federal Government. At issue is the amendment that we are discussing right now. When we talk about our Native American Tribes, my colleague and I have shared in common interest, along with our colleague, Mrs. Torres, in terms of making sure that Native American rights are protected from taking by the Federal Government, as well. There is good news in the underlying bill. The Department of the Interior had made the statement that their ability to be able to negotiate or enter into water settlements with Tribes is in no way affected or restricted by this bill. It is in no way affected or restricted by this bill, according to the Department of the Interior.…”