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Show 116 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Senator Watkins during the House hearings was re- called. Anderson had told Watkins that, without the develop- ments in New Mexico along the San Juan River, the Upper Basin bill would pass only over his dead body. Such a thought could make Senator Watkins shiver. Anderson was a powerful man. It was April first when the administration bill was rushed up to the Senate by Secretary McKay. After the Upper Basin senators had huddled over it, they saw more reason than ever to await action by the House. If the House came out with a bill similar to S. 1555, with five or six dams and fifteen participating projects, it would be easier for the Senate to follow suit. The House Interior Committee, however, was having difficulty getting any sort of bill out at all. Day after day the members wrangled behind closed doors, and the spring was going. Soon it would be summer, and the Congress would begin to think about setting a day of adjournment. The Senate authors of S. 1555, however, still felt an impelling need for some sort of definite move on the part of the House, and they waited. Suddenly on May 24, word came that the full House Committee had come to an understanding. The crsp bill, HR. 4449, would be favorably reported out. The vote of the House committee demonstrated forc- ibly that the birth of HR. 4449 had demanded the use of surgical instruments, and the wounds inflicted were deep and lasting. In the vote, which was thirteen to twelve in favor of the bill, the committee had lined up in this way: |
