On the recordJune 5, 2012
I do not live in a desert. I mentioned in my earlier remarks that my congressional district, in fact, borders the largest body of freshwater on the planet Earth. I find water very precious myself, and I try to explain to my constituents every day we should not take it for granted. I find the debates that we have engaged in here very interesting tonight. A bit earlier today, we had an amendment to suppress the wage rates in this country. We have about 13 million people who don't work today, but the gentleman suggests the way that we solve our water crisis in this country is pricing. His solution is: Let's increase the price of water. Let's increase the price of water for those 13 million people who aren't working. Let's increase the price of water. Let's use pricing for water to conserve it for those people who may not be making a living wage because people want to destroy Davis-Bacon in this country. Maybe we ought to think about the people who are just getting by, just grubbing to get the money to pay their water bills. Pricing means something to them. In this case, if regulation that had been in place for more than a decade will help those people of least means pay their water bills, I say that's a good thing and a very sound reason to oppose the gentleman's amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert). The amendment was agreed to.…
