Drought Preparedness Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague and friend from Michigan for yielding. I also thank Chairman Westerman for his leadership and Ranking Member Grijalva for his support of this bill--my bill, the Drought Preparedness Act--and for being willing to consider it through the Natural Resources Committee and help us to bring it to the floor today.

Finally, I thank my colleague, Representative Ciscomani, who co- chairs the Colorado River Caucus here with me in the United States and is a co-lead of this particular bill.

As has been mentioned, throughout the West and certainly in my home State of Colorado, we have seen continuing drought conditions threaten the lives and the livelihoods of so many of our communities. These ongoing drought conditions are shrinking the region's many, many water lifelines.

I will just say as someone who represents the Second Congressional District of Colorado and has the privilege of representing the Headwaters of the Colorado River, we know in my district and our communities know firsthand just how important that critical water supply is for our State.

That is why we created and formed the bipartisan Colorado River Caucus, a forum for Members located in Colorado River Basin States to discuss the various issues facing the Colorado River, upper basin and lower basin States.

As the Bureau of Reclamation, States, Tribes, and stakeholders are working toward long-term solutions, it is necessary that we continue to provide States and agency partners with every tool possible to mitigate its impacts, and that is exactly what this bill does.

As Representative Dingell and Chairman Westerman just articulated, the authorities that the Bureau has used in the past include drought contingency planning, resiliency projects, and emergency response actions. It is critical that we empower the Bureau to be able to utilize these tools into the future.

The Bureau of Reclamation testified during the legislative hearing during this particular bill as to just how important these tools are and how critical it is for Congress to ensure that they continue.

I am excited that this bill passed unanimously out of the House Natural Resources Committee and has strong bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support this bill here on the floor so we can get this across the finish line and to support Colorado and States across the Rocky Mountain West and the 17 Bureau of Reclamation States as we continue to deal with this crisis.

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