over 90 percent of the Jicarilla Apache Nation's government operations are funded with revenues from production of their oil and gas resources.

I think this would be another area where we could seriously consider opportunities.

I would certainly encourage that in light of the legal obligations still in place that we pursue equitable resolutions from the Department.

I want to thank you for being here... we appreciate the compassion and the passion that you share for our nation...

I very much agree with your and President Obama's drive to invest in education and research and development and innovation in order to better position our Nation for the future.

In the West, our water resources are precious and the Bureau of Reclamation helps us, especially in New Mexico, to ensure our water is used efficiently.

It is economic development for the tribes. We are going to do infrastructure investments with those tribal economies.

It is about... helping economies grow. We want to sustain jobs, also we want to protect those agricultural interests.

There are many areas in the country, especially in the West, that we look to to provide some support.

This infrastructure strengthens the backbone of America by making resources available for economies to grow while helping to preserve vital resources like water in a place where it is scarce.

We can obviously see the importance of these projects.

This hearing is an important first step to ask the tough questions that will allow us to identify and fix problems.