On the recordJanuary 21, 2010
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I support strongly the passage of H.R. 1065 and the other two bills, H.R. 3342 and H.R. 3254. In the 33 years that I've been in Congress, I've worked hard with Mr. Rahall--he and I came to Congress together--trying to work out these water rights. I have always tried to make sure that we were fair to everybody, particularly fair to the Native Americans who have been deprived of their water rights in too many instances, and Mr. Rahall has made this a priority to make sure that we get equity and justice here. Water is extremely important all over the world. It's extremely important, of course, in the Southwest. I just feel that the hard work that went into this bill and the sense of equity and the sense of justice and fairness to all those involved has produced three very good bills, and I strongly urge support of them.
