Russ Feingold: “Let me, first, indicate not only am I not insensitive to the needs of Colorado, my mother is a native of Colorado, who…”

“Let me, first, indicate not only am I not insensitive to the needs of Colorado, my mother is a native of Colorado, who did not come to Wisconsin until she came to college. I have great affection for the State and certainly respect the water needs that are so central to the State and to Western States. Let me respond to the specific points because I think we have worked together well to try to narrow our differences and to come up with this agreement in a way to try to have these matters discussed on the Senate floor in an expeditious way and to have a vote and to have the matter go forward as appropriate. The first point the Senator seemed to put his greatest emphasis on was whether or not the non-Native American users of the water should somehow be put in the same position of others who were the beneficiaries of the previous projects that were based in 1956. He suggested that somehow it would be discriminatory for these individuals and families to have to pay certain costs that the others did not have to pay in the past. I suppose that is one way to look at it, but I really look at it a different way. I don't see the people who have benefited from some of these water projects in the past as really the relevant group. The relevant people now are those of us here today, both those who need the help of the water, the Native Americans and others, but also the taxpayers today.”