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Show LAST LEGISLATIVE FIGHT 235 So were the battle lines drawn along familiar ground. Proposed irrigation works like everything else, were affected by the inflation spiral. The Reclamation Bureau did not aid the Arizona cause by announcing that the estimated cost of the project had risen from $708 million to $788 million. The Saturday Evening Post had something to say about the matter: "The minions of eca and Point Four do their best to drag money out of Congress for projects all over the world, but up to now no representative of Italy is able to offer to swap a vote for a dam on the Tiber for one in favor of the billion-dollar scheme to hoist up the Colo- rado River high enough to irrigate a few farms in Ari- zona. Perhaps that will happen under world govern- ment, but up to now it remains possible to economize on foreign projects simply by saying no to our own bureaucrats. "Try and say no to the Reclamation Bureau and see where you get!" 334 The Arizona proponents had a new claim: the project would aid national defense by producing needed electric power. In reply, Poulson cited Section 4 of the bill, which said: 335 "Electric energy developed at any of the generating plants herein authorized shall be used first for the operation of pumping plants and other facilities here- in authorized, and for replacement purposes, and the remainder thereof sold or exchanged to effect the pur- poses of this act." "In other words," said Poulson, "surplus field crops, including potatoes, come first in this bill, and our national security comes later." |