OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Natural Resources Management Act

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 26, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Natural Resources

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Bishop, as well as Mr. Grijalva.

Mr. Speaker, I rise enthusiastically today to support this package that the House is considering. It includes one of my bills, the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Phase III Act. This legislation authorizes the next phase of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, which is a decades-long effort to address the vital water needs of the ag community, conservationists, and certainly my constituents throughout the Yakima Basin.

Mr. Speaker, I have not only worked on this project for the last three Congresses, but I hate to say it, my efforts go back even further, almost 30 years, more than I would like to admit, as a farmer, former State legislator, and as director of the State department of agriculture. Today demonstrates the closest we have ever come to sending this crucial legislation to the President to sign into law.

I firmly believe that the Yakima Workgroup and the Implementation Committee are a model for the rest of the Nation to follow to address divisive issues. I invite all of my colleagues to come see for themselves. This group represents a diverse array of local, Tribal, State, Federal, ag, environmental, and private interests. They have worked through decades of painstaking compromise, collaboration, and efforts to find solutions.

So I rise to thank all of them for their hard work, all of the Tribal leaders, the State-Federal partners, the commissioners of the counties, conservation organizations, the cities, local irrigation representatives, and certainly the Natural Resources staff who have worked very hard on this all along, including Mr. Bill Ball. Without their hard work and deep commitment to addressing this comprehensive issue, we would not be as close as we are today to getting this crucial step done.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the strong support of all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for this package of legislation that we consider today.

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