Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise today to speak about the STREAM Act, Support to Rehydrate the Environment, Agriculture and Municipalities Act, which I am introducing today alongside my cosponsors, Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema. This bill is intended to help Western States upgrade their water infrastructure in preparation for the severe droughts and weather whiplash that we have seen the past few years and that will worsen significantly with climate change. If we don't take action now, it is only going to get worse. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists project that climate change will cause a 54-percent drop in the Sierras' snowpack within the next 20 to 40 years and a 79-percent drop by the end of the century. This change alone could be devastating for California because we absolutely depend on this snowpack. The Sierra snowpack provides 30 percent of our water supply and is our biggest reservoir. For these reasons and others, we need an ``all of the above'' water strategy, including increased water supply; incentivizing projects that build in environmental benefits and drinking water for disadvantaged communities, and investing in separate environmental restoration efforts. The bill I am introducing today helps meet this challenge in four fundamental ways: No.…”