Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, you've already heard that this is a very bipartisan measure that is supported by people on both sides of the aisle.

In fact, I would like to point out a little story that I think is kind of interesting. I think Mr. Gosar might be a little embarrassed, and his partner on the other side of the aisle in getting this through, Ann Kirkpatrick. But I think it's really interesting to note that Mr. Gosar beat Mrs. Kirkpatrick in a campaign a few years ago, yet they were able to put all differences aside to come together for what's best for the State and what's best ultimately for the Nation.

We are talking about 3,700 jobs. Every town hall meeting that I've held this year--and I think the same thing could be said for most folks in this body on both sides of the aisle--the number one issue that keeps coming up is jobs, jobs, jobs. People want to get back to work again. Arizona was hit really hard by this Great Recession, and the prospect of getting 3,700 jobs in our State for this great project that's going to provide 25 percent of the copper for this country is phenomenal. That's why The Arizona Republic, our State's largest newspaper, came out and editorialized for it. That's why you see all these different entities that really are on both sides of the aisle coming out in support of this idea.

I really find it incredible that as we try to balance the budget, we try to start whittling down the deficit, stop having to pay a third of our debt to China, that we have folks on the other side of the aisle that are not willing to either cut spending or create jobs. I find that incredible.

This is a phenomenal opportunity. It's a win-win all the way across the board and what I think a lot of our young people would call a ``no-brainer.''

I would like to really commend the other gentleman from Arizona, Representative Paul Gosar, for his undying support and his incredible hard work to get this done, and I commend his colleague on the other side of the aisle, Ann Kirkpatrick, for her great work on this.

I also want to just say in closing that this is extremely important to the folks in Arizona. It's been going on since I left Congress the first time, and that was 12 years ago. It's time to put this to bed.

It has passed the House on several occasions and it gets all caught up in the Senate. I think we have the opportunity to get it done this year, I think common sense will prevail, and I would like to again compliment the gentleman from Arizona for his great work.

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