Jared Huffman: “It was just last winter that we were here on the House floor talking about another so-called drought bill that my…”

“It was just last winter that we were here on the House floor talking about another so-called drought bill that my Republican colleagues were attempting to slam through the House within just a few days of its introduction. This time the bill has a different title, but it is pretty much the same bill. We are back today to consider yet another bill that harms West Coast fisheries and tribal interests, another bill that undermines State law, another bill that micromanages the most complex water system in the world in a way that benefits a select few at the expense of many others across the State of California, another bill that is going nowhere. We have a SAP from the administration. We have a withering three-page letter of opposition critiquing the bill from the Department of the Interior. The two largest circulation papers in California have both editorialized against it. The State of California is on record opposing prior versions of this bill. Now, unlike last year, when the House did not allow any amendments to the bill, we are here today with 4 out of 5 Republican amendments made in order and 4 out of 24 Democratic amendments made in order. That may seem like marginal progress over the 113th Congress' very closed process, but that is no way to do business and certainly no way to get a bill signed into law.…”