Angie Craig: “I am not sure one can get much clearer than the language of Bob Stallman as he talks for the thousands and thousands of…”

“I am not sure one can get much clearer than the language of Bob Stallman as he talks for the thousands and thousands of members of the Farm Bureau across the Nation and, most importantly, in the 18 Western States that are most dramatically affected by the Reid provision. A long while ago, long before the Presiding Officer or I ever thought about coming to the Senate--or maybe our parents even thought they might have sons that would come to the Senate --this Congress decided the best way to solve water problems in the arid Western States and western territories was to allow those States and their governments to make those determinations. Why? Because water was so very scarce, and only the Western States with their perspective could determine the allocation of water. It was never true this side of the Mississippi where there was 30 or 40 or 50 inches of rainfall on an annual basis. Water was viewed sometimes as a problem, not an asset or not a rare commodity, but that is not true in Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, California, or Wyoming where water is truly a scarce commodity. Over decades of time, our States have very carefully and cautiously allocated that water.”