David Valadao: “My constituents have faced drought conditions for years. Communities throughout the Central Valley and the entire…”

“My constituents have faced drought conditions for years. Communities throughout the Central Valley and the entire American West are running out of water for daily use in homes, businesses, and agriculture production. Farmers are being forced to fallow their fields and dry out their orchards, and hundreds of thousands of acres will be unable to be planted again this year. Instead of coming to the table to work on real solutions that would give families and farmers in my community the water they desperately need to survive, the majority has decided they would rather play politics with the most critical resource in the valley. Apparently, passing political messaging bills to check a box is more important to my Democratic colleagues than trying to save the livelihood of thousands of valley farmers trying to put food on the tables of Americans across the country. This bill is completely silent on the desperate need for enhanced water storage infrastructure to better prepare us during wet years. It does not cut red tape, decrease time delays, or address increased project costs due to redundant requirements under NEPA. The bottom line is this bill is bad policy and bad for the Central Valley. My colleagues don't seem to understand that the fewer agriculture products the Central Valley produces, the worse off our own domestic food supply will be. Reduced ag means more of a reliance on other nations for our food, which is an issue for national security.…”