Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. STANTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Act, a bipartisan bill that is absolutely critical to the future of my home State of Arizona and the American West.

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of our region. More than 40 million people across the seven basin States depend on it for drinking water, agriculture, and economic vitality. In Arizona alone, it supports our cities, our farmers, our Tribal communities, and our economy, including our critical semiconductor industry.

But this river is under enormous pressure from a drought now entering its 25th year, from overuse, and from a changing climate that is reshaping the West as we know it. At the same time, dozens of native fish, migratory birds, and plant species that depend on this river are fighting for survival.

The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program is an incredibly successful collaboration between the Federal Government, the States, and key stakeholders. It has been doing the hard work on the ground for over two decades to manage habitats and protect native species.

This program has successfully established thousands of acres of native riparian and aquatic habitat, stocked the river with native fish, and increased the numbers of breeding migratory birds over more than 5,000 acres.

The program also provides a measure of reliability and certainty for future river operations. States like Arizona have a responsibility under the Endangered Species Act to protect these vulnerable habitats while balancing the need to deliver Colorado River water to users across the State and region.

This fund gives the Lower Basin an essential tool to protect the health of the river, and it is one less thing to fight over at a time when tensions over the river's future are exceptionally high.

The Lower Basin States of Arizona, California, and Nevada are continuing to put our money where our mouth is, contributing millions to the conservation of this critical resource.

This bill simply ensures that the money we contribute to the program can accrue interest as it sits in the Treasury's coffers. Dollars that our States put in will go a lot further at no additional cost to the taxpayers of this country.

I thank my colleagues for their partnership in getting this bill to the House floor, especially Congressman Ken Calvert of California and Congresswoman Susie Lee of Nevada.

Madam Speaker, I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.

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