Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the devastating impacts of droughts and floods that have been exacerbated in part by climate change in California but also around the country and around the world. California is being battered with major storms bringing flooding and high winds across our State. Normally, we need the water but not quite at this level and at this measure. We need to be taking advantage of the heavy precipitation to shore up our water supplies, to fill our State's critical reservoirs, and recharge our aquifers that have been depleted not only over decades but the last 3 years as a result of extreme drought. The fact is, California gets most of its moisture, unlike parts of the country, from November to March. If we don't get it then, we don't get it at all. The acceleration of the cycle of droughts and floods caused by climate change and more demands in California's water system, more people, more needs, have made it more difficult for farmers to put food on America's dinner table. I know. I am a third-generation farmer. Now, the ongoing storms and floods threaten to damage our crops. California's San Joaquin Valley, which I represent a part of, grows nearly a quarter of the United States' food and has been bearing the brunt of it all. Since 2019, farmland in California has shrunk by 10 percent, resulting in over 750,000 acres of fallowed land. Nearly 12,000 agriculture jobs were lost statewide, representing a 2.8 percent decline.…”