Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention again to the devastating drought that has impacted California for over 4 years. Much is said about California and the success that we have had post- World War II, but a lot of it is owed to the fact that we have developed a water system, both a Federal and State water project, that allows us to move water throughout California for beneficial use to every region of California, and that has been a great success. But today that water system is broken. It is broken because it was designed to meet the needs of 20 million people and the agriculture that we had in the 1960s and 1970s. Today we have over 40 million people in California, we have more intensive agriculture, producing half the Nation's fruits and vegetables--the leading agricultural State in the Nation--and demands for water for the environment that was not part of the project in the beginning. I have made and will continue to make it a priority to speak on the House floor regularly regarding the devastating drought impacts and will attempt to offer solutions both for the State and Federal agencies to maximize our ability to move water through the system where it is most needed to ensure that we also make the changes at the Federal level and at the State level to fix this magnificent but broken water system today that no longer can meet all of the demands and needs that are subscribed for it.…”