[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S2623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Water Treaty

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, 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 longstanding problem. I remember years ago being in 
Mexico City when I was attorney general of Texas talking about getting 
the Mexican Government to live up to their responsibilities under this 
treaty, which requires them to deliver water to the United States on a 
regular basis. But their habit has been to delay the delivery of that 
water until the end of the 5-year period of the treaty. Obviously, 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.
  But it is important that we get this water flowing again because 
Mexico has repeatedly refused to comply with the terms of the treaty in 
a timely manner.
  We worked with the Biden administration. I remember talking to 
Secretary Blinken and introducing legislation, talking to my colleagues 
across the aisle about coming up with some carrots and sticks that we 
might be able to use to get Mexico to live up to its responsibilities, 
but the Biden administration really wasn't particularly interested in 
solving the problem.
  I have 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, and I think we have 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. But 
yesterday's announcement was an important step forward doing just that. 
And, again, 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.