Jim Costa: “I thank the gentlewoman from California for the good work that she does on behalf of her constituents, and I appreciate…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from California for the good work that she does on behalf of her constituents, and I appreciate the opportunity to make comments that are important investments that we should be making in our infrastructure for all Americans. The President, when he ran for office, talked about his willingness to invest in America's infrastructure. Sadly, we have seen little follow-through on behalf of the administration to do just that. America was built over decades and generations on Americans willing to invest in our infrastructure. Clearly, today, we are living off the investments our parents and grandparents made a generation or two ago. In California, but throughout the country, that includes fixing our aging water systems, our transportation systems, and investing in our school sites. In my home in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of water over the last 100 years has allowed deserts to bloom. A reliable water supply is a foundation for any economy. Farmers need water to feed the world. We say, ``where water flows, food grows,'' and life becomes increasingly difficult when we have literally hundreds and thousands of Californians and elsewhere around the country in which communities that are small, that are not incorporated, cannot meet or comply with clean drinking water standards either by the State or by the Federal Government. That is just wrong.…”