Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senate is close to passing legislation that includes three water settlements as well as funding to settle the Cobell and Pigford claims. I want to briefly discuss the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act, which is included in the larger bill. The Crow Tribe has water related claims against the United States and those claims need to be settled. While I believe it is necessary to solve legitimate water claims, I want to make clear that I do not support backdoor efforts to steal water from my home state of Wyoming. In the West, we know that water is worth fighting for. It is a precious commodity, and there isn't enough of it to meet all of our State's needs. Just as other Western members work hard to protect their state's water rights, Senator Barrasso and I work to protect Wyoming's water rights. Some have suggested that Wyoming water users will be harmed by this bill. That is not the intention of the legislation. It is in place to settle water claims from the Crow Tribe. It is not intended to be a hidden effort to harm Wyoming water users. Senator Barrasso worked closely with the Wyoming Attorney General's Office and the Wyoming State engineer to negotiate substantial changes to this bill to guard against unreasonable takings of Wyoming's water.…”