With new legislation, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn aim to pressure Mexico to send water to Texas

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McALLEN — U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn hope to force Mexico to comply with a decades old water treaty.

The senators on Monday introduced legislation that, if approved, would require the U.S. government to impose restrictions on federal aid and prohibit trade and development funds for grantees in Mexico if the country fails to deliver water it agreed to.

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act imposes one of three enforcement measures: prohibit federal aid to Mexico’s private sector, prohibit U.S. Trade and Development Agency funds for grantees in Mexico, and would cap foreign assistance to Mexico at 85% of what was appropriated. The cap would not apply to anti-opioid/synthetic drug programs.

The U.S. Secretary of State would be tasked with reporting annually to Congress on Mexico’s compliance with the treaty. If Mexico does not meet the required water obligations, the amendment would require the president to take action.

“Texas farmers and cities are suffering because Mexico has consistently failed to uphold its end of the bargain and provide Texans with the water they count on in the framework of the 1944 Water Treaty,” Cruz said in a statement, calling on the Senate to quickly advance the bill.

The legislation's fate is unclear. For it to become law, it would also have to be approved by the U.S. House and President Joe Biden.

This is the latest in an ongoing effort by lawmakers in recent months to force Mexico to provide the state with the water that is owed. The proposed amendment follows a letter from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, including Cruz and Cornyn, to House and Senators appropriators in May. The letter urged the appropriators to withhold funds from Mexico if the country failed to comply with the treaty.

The House has done so. Budget writers agreed to withhold certain funds from Mexico until they are in agreement with the U.S. to resolve water deficit. The Senate is considering taking similar action.

In a statement, Cornyn said these bills take their collective efforts to the “next level” by imposing action against Mexico.

Mexico’s “continued delays and inaction are hurting the livelihoods of farmers, ranchers, and producers throughout South Texas,” Cornyn said in a statement.

Agricultural advocates say this is a necessary move, as water has become more scarce in the region. Drought conditions in South Texas have caused the shutdown of a sugar mill, the last in the state, and imperiled the rest of the agricultural industry in the region.

“It shut down because there’s simply no water,” said Laramie Adams, the Texas Farm Bureau’s associate government affairs director.

Farmers and ranchers heavily depend on the Rio Grande for water but the two international reservoirs that feed into the river are hovering around record lows. Times are desperate, Adams said

“They’ve held on as long as they can without water,” Adams said. “Unless Congress gets aggressive and our U.S. leaders get aggressive, they’re all going to be out of business.”

The 1944 treaty requires Mexico to deliver water to the U.S. from six tributaries. In exchange, the U.S. delivers water from the Colorado River to Mexico.

Every five years, Mexico must deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water, which averages to 350,000 acre-feet per year. Mexico is behind on its deliveries by about 900,000 acre-feet of water. They have until the end of the current five-year cycle, which ends in October 2025, to make up that difference.

However, the drought has affected the Mexican water supply too, which Jim Darling, executive director of the Rio Grande Regional Water Authority, pointed out as a complicating factor.

“There’s not enough water to comply right now,” Darling said.

Darling, who also serves as chairman of the local water planning group , has worked closely with local water districts and public utilities on finding solutions to the region’s water shortage.

“We should have done this two years ago,” Darling said. “I think it’s great they’re doing something but we always kind of wait until the brink before we say anything.”

A spokesperson for the International Boundary and Water Commission, the agency responsible for overseeing treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, declined to comment on the proposed amendment stating they don’t comment on political matters.

The commission has been in talks with their Mexican counterparts to ensure Mexico delivers the water it owes the U.S. and is continuing to negotiate an amendment to the treaty, referred to as a “minute,” that would “improve the reliability and predictability” of water deliveries.

Disclosure: Texas Farm Bureau has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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