Devin Nunes: “I thank the fine gentleman from Washington from the Committee on Rules and, of course, Chairman Sessions for, again…”

“I thank the fine gentleman from Washington from the Committee on Rules and, of course, Chairman Sessions for, again, bringing a water bill to the floor of the House. Five years ago, we passed a water bill very similar to this. It was in a year where we had abundant rainfall. Unfortunately, that rain was not captured. The water flowed right out to the ocean and was wasted. We have continued to dump water out to the ocean over the last 4 years. Even today, we are continuing to dump water out to the ocean. When I hear my colleagues talk about drought, yes, we are in the third year of a drought, a very bad drought; but, in fact, the founding fathers of our State built the water systems to withstand 5 years of drought. Back from 1987 to 1992--it is a drought that I still remember and many of my constituents remember--we really didn't have harsh problems until that fifth year of the drought. Since that time, places down in Los Angeles have built big water storage projects--in our area, no new water storage projects, only taking water away. You go to 1992; they pass the Central Valley Project Improvement Act that took a million acre feet away and dumped it out to the ocean. In 2009, the San Joaquin River Act took another 250,000 acre feet and wasted it. In addition to that, you have had lawsuits brought forth by the Endangered Species Act by radical environmental groups that have taken the rest of the water away.…”