Say administration inaction forces vote by Congress
By Jennifer Talhelm
WASHINGTON — New Mexico's U.S. senators, impatient with the Bush administration's inaction on a water settlement involving the Navajo Nation, said Wednesday they are ready to push forward without the government's backing.
Administration officials say they oppose the settlement reached between the Navajo Nation and the state of New Mexico over San Juan Basin water, which would cost the federal government $1 billion over 15 to 20 years. They say they're working on their proposal.
Sens. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, and Pete Domenici, a Republican, said the government has had five years to study the proposed settlement.
With as many as half of the people living on the Navajo Reservation without running water and the nearby city of Gallup, N.M., worried it will run out of water, the senators said they are ready to bypass the administration and just let Congress vote on settlement legislation.
"There needs to be closure on this," Bingaman said at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing about the settlement. "The federal government has been AWOL. I see no reason we can't proceed."
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