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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Mr. Ten Evck: Ben, I think that the analysis on the salinity problem <br />is an accurate one. I think what this is a part of and only a part <br />of is that hassle between the President and the Congress. It has to <br />get resolved. I think the Congress bears a lot of the responsibility. <br />For better or worse, the Congress has for virtually decades now been <br />appropriating more money than they have. We have for better or <br />worse, a President who says I am not going to go along with that kind <br />of foolishness and he is making the shoe pinch a whole lot of us in <br />a lot of uncomfortable places. I think sooner or later the Congress <br />is going to have to come to the sort of thing that we have done in <br />our own state legislature, which is a joint budget committee, which <br />says the state can spend only as much money as it has. The Congress <br />I think has a duty and an obligation to themselves and to the rest of <br />us to do that very thing too. <br /> <br />I don't think this problem will ever be solved, be it on this issue or <br />grants to sewage construction, or whatever the federal money is, if <br />they are going to continually appropriate more money than we have. <br />I think as long as the current President is in office we are going to <br />have1fhis kind of hassle going on. I think Congress has a part of <br />the responsibility that they ought to measure up to and get in and <br />clean up their own house and their own budget proceedings. They don't <br />have any budget, that's part of the problem. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: Would you agree that we ought to begin immediately to <br />see how we can be helpful? <br /> <br />Mr. Ten Evck: No question about it. I am not trying to justify or <br />maybe I am, I am not trying to apologize or explain away the impact <br />of the President's action on us. It's bad; there is no question <br />about it. There is' a reason for it, but I think that is what we <br />ought to get at. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: I think that is true. I am sure that there are many <br />projects that are caught in the same boat. On the other hand, I <br />believe that the emphasis on reclamation and interior has certainly <br />been away from western orientation. I don't believe that the Interior <br />Department under the present direction will be helpful from the <br />western viewpoint. <br /> <br />Mr. Ten Evck: It comes out in lots of ways . <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: Is there any further business to come before the <br />meeting. What are our luncheon plans? <br /> <br />-27- <br />