Tom Udall

The Transportation Security Administration has the difficult task of ensuring both security and the free movement of people and goods.

I believe several serious questions should be addressed before TSA deploys WBI machines more widely.

Senator Udall and their staffs did tremendous work in reaching out to the many varied interests and stakeholders.

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act will protect many of Dona Ana County's most beloved natural treasures.

I look forward to working with Senator Bingaman and the committee to see if it's possible to resolve some of your concerns.

Thank you both for being here.

I can assure you that even the groups mentioned by Mr. Schickedanz--that there are many individuals within those organizations that support wilderness.

Thank you, Chairman Wyden, and thank you, Ranking Member Senator Murkowski and other members of the subcommittee, for allowing me to speak today about S. 6989, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act.

Senators Bingaman and Udall introduced S. 1689, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act.

This is an important piece of legislation for us in southern New Mexico and for Dona Ana County in particular.

The New Mexico wilderness areas included in this bill under consideration today are in close proximity to the Mexico-United States border.

Even those of us who represent land-locked States look forward to those findings and that new data set.

I think if we focus on the building block of life here on our planet, H2O, water, and ensure that we have affordable, safe, and clean supplies of water, we will have healthy societies, less conflict, and a bright future.

To my knowledge, satellite companies have not been willing to provide in-state non-duplicative television programming to viewers in any so-called 'orphan' counties.

I mean, I think there's a real problem here.

Most of the State of New Mexico is in a single TV market centered in Albuquerque; however, about 13.5 percent of the State's TV households receive out-of-State television.

Exporting is vital for the growth of our economy.

Ensuring their safety, I think, is a very, very important responsibility.

What have we done to prevent further pipeline catastrophes?

It is common in Indian country to hear the phrase, don't get sick after June.

It is well documented that we as the Federal Government are failing in meeting our obligation to provide health care to Native Americans.

So we need to put the resources behind the Indian Health Service. There is no doubt about that.

But you didn't comment on the Medicare or Veterans. Tell us the difference.

I would hope that that Tribal Office would see its mandate as reviewing all of these things and educating the Treasury Department, the IRS, and everybody within the Department.

Many of the tribes would argue, and I think they have a pretty strong argument in Indian law, that the trust responsibility applies to all of the Federal Government.