VIDEO: Cornyn Praises New Water Treaty Agreement with Mexico
[Mexico’s] habit has been to delay the delivery of that water until the end of the five-year period of the treaty.
The Biden administration wasn't particularly interested in solving the problem.
I thank the President, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Deputy Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State for their efforts to secure this important and long overdue payment of water to South Texas.
WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau’s successful efforts to broker a new agreement on the Treaty Relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande that secures water for farmers and ranchers in Texas. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.
“I want to start my remarks today by thanking President Trump, Secretary Rollins, Secretary Rubio, and Deputy Secretary of State Landau for their efforts in securing a new agreement with the country of Mexico to send much-needed water to South Texas.”
“This has been a long-standing problem.”
“Their habit has been to delay the delivery of that water until the end of the five-year period of the treaty.”
“In the interim, Mexican farmers have the water they need to grow the crops they need to grow and leave Texas agriculture high and dry.”
“I remember talking to Secretary Blinken and introducing legislation, talking to my colleagues across the aisle about coming with up some carrots and sticks that we might be able use to get Mexico to live up to its responsibilities, but the Biden administration wasn’t particularly interested in solving the problem.”
“I’ve been working here in the Congress, as have my colleagues both in the Senate and the House, particularly our Texas delegation in the House of Representatives, to get them to live up to their responsibilities.”
“We’ve come to realize that the current treaty, which was signed back in 1944, has become obsolete – that we need some interim measures and metrics to ensure that there are regular annual water deliveries for Texas and our agricultural industry.”
“Yesterday’s announcement was an important step toward to doing just that.”
“I thank the President, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Deputy Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State for their efforts to secure this important and long overdue payment of water to South Texas.”