Ron Wyden

The thank yous are really owed to you with dignity and passion and always doing your homework.

We respectfully request that this Committee favorably move this legislation this year.

We also commit to delivering the protections to the environment that is asked of us in a way that, I believe, few river basins in this country are prepared to do.

We urge Congress to enact this vital legislation this year.

The Klamath Agreements are an unprecedented opportunity for this Committee and Congress to help local communities resolve these water shortages.

I mean, we have watched you all, not just from the period of, kind of, June on when we set that end of the year date, but literally, for me, since 2001, for Senator Merkley from the day he came to the Senate.

Sounds like a law firm, stubbornness.

It's exciting in that respect.

So we go from, to make sure we get this. We go from essentially nothing recently to meeting their needs in 9 out of 10 years under this agreement.

I'm pleased to report that the Klamath Basin Task Force has delivered on all 3 of those charges.

You took heart. You saw people suffer. You did something about it.

Even in the face of water shortages, these communities produce economic value each year comparable to the entire 15-year budget proposal under the Basin Agreement.

We are very grateful to Senator Wyden, Senator Merkley, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Boxer for bringing this important legislation forward.

It would be legislative malpractice to not follow this up every step of the way to get this passed and then to ensure its implementation.

We need Richard Whitman. We need his future involvement.

Stubbornness, food and good relationships are really critical.

You matter. Senator Merkley matters. All the people who are sitting here matter.

We want something bigger. We want something better. We want to come together.

I remember back when, feels like, when I had a full head of hair and rugged good looks, we got, on a bipartisan basis, we got more than $100 million in the Farm bill in the U.S. Senate to send to the Basin.

I think not only is this going to create jobs for the tribes. I think it's also going to be good for the whole Upper Basin.

How does this legislation help the wildlife refuges in the Basin that are so often literally starved for water?

These agreements truly are a model that could provide a template for other basins for long lasting, stable, foundations for sharing of water resources.

This is a very, very, important day.

This settlement deserves to be cherished. It took decades of hardship, thousands of hours of work and personal sacrifice to reach this point.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of S. 2379.