William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “this resolution deals with a special function entrusted to Congress under article I, section 10 of the Constitution. I…”

“this resolution deals with a special function entrusted to Congress under article I, section 10 of the Constitution. I want to express my gratitude to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Gekas) and also the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), the ranking member, for the serious, thoughtful way that they have met this responsibility and for their patience and persistence in making sure that we get every detail of this compact just right. I also want to thank their staffs, especially Ray Smietanka and David Lachmann, for their work which brought this matter to a successful conclusion and, of course, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin) and the other cosponsors of this bill, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall), the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watkins) and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), all of whom represent the border between Texas and Oklahoma. Finally, I want to thank Trey Bahm of my staff for his work in making sure that we get it right. As the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin) said, Madam Speaker, this dispute goes back 200 years to the Louisiana Purchase.”