Jeff Denham: “A lot has been said about our area of the State, where you have 30 to 40 percent unemployment in some areas. It's not a…”

“A lot has been said about our area of the State, where you have 30 to 40 percent unemployment in some areas. It's not a Republican issue; it's not a Democrat issue. It is an American jobs issue--to put people back to work. Some people say, Well, those aren't the kinds of jobs that we want. You know, it's a dusty, dirty way to earn a living. Yeah, it is dusty; it is dirty. I'm a farmer. And without water, you shut down not only my farm, but you shut down farms throughout the valley, you shut off our food supply, you shut off all of those jobs that desperately rely on water. Now, a lot of people like to talk about a deal is a deal. Back in 1994, we had this grand deal that took CVPIA water, took 800,000 acre- feet for environmental purposes. The deal was that water was supposed to be replaced. The Department of the Interior never did that, just stole 800,000 acre-feet of water, which still has to be paid for by the contract; but nevertheless, we need to make sure that our valley farmers are held whole. Let me talk about a couple of different issues within this bill. {time} 1500 Again, this is about our priorities as the House. The Senate may or may not agree with them, but we'll never know if we don't have the debate. Shouldn't the Senate at least have an opportunity to look at this bill and vote on the bill and debate the bill? If they don't like the bill, present us your own; but don't just ignore valley farmers.…”