[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 22, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H5029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WATER IS LIFE

  (Mr. VASQUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VASQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, in New Mexico, water is life, and it is our 
economy.
  In 1902, the Federal Government recognized this harsh reality, 
passing the Reclamation Act to make arid Western lands agriculturally 
productive.
  In that negotiation, they gave States like New Mexico the right to 
allocate and adjudicate its own water resources. Today, those rights 
are being violated. Don't ask me. Ask Luna County farmers and ranchers 
who are currently seeing droves of unauthorized wells being drilled by 
the Federal Government right by their pastures, stealing their water. 
It has to stop.
  For generations, ranching families in this border community have 
relied on water from the Mimbres and Hachita Basin to sustain their 
herds and their way of life. When the feds needed water, they bought it 
or they trucked in. Recently they said: Why buy it when we can steal 
it?
  Our ranchers follow the State's water laws. DHS doesn't, and it 
appears they don't care either. DHS contractors today are drilling deep 
new wells in Luna County for border wall construction, depleting this 
vital water source with no regard for permitting, State law, or the 
impact to border ranchers.
  Mr. Speaker, we all support border security, but we don't support 
unauthorized well drilling that's draining precious resources. I stand 
with our ranchers.

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