Jim Costa

The settlement project has two co-equal goals: river restoration and water management

We have to be mindful of these milestones, these dates, if we are going to make this thing work

No, but you also have now two opinions, one by Judge Wanger on salmonid that has asked you to go back to the drawing board on that, and another one that is pending as it relates to Delta Smelt.

All politics are local, and while the Ranking Member indicated water should not be political, unfortunately we have noted... that it has become very political.

Mark Twain, I think, got it right when he was a reporter in California... in the West whiskey was made for drinking and water was made for fighting.

I don't think is here.

Coming back to Washington and filing in Small Claims Court is not, in my view, a satisfactory resolution.

And that flexibility that you are demonstrating is not being demonstrated, in my view, by the Department of Commerce under NOAA even though we have these above average rainfall and snow pack on the Sierra.

I think he is right on point with that.

You know, the Chairman made a good observation about the Bureau is the largest wholesaler of water in the entire country, 31 million acre-feet on the average, I believe, and I think you ought to be making assessments, especially in the…

And that will be a reduction of 200,000 acre-feet of water, I believe.

I have never witnessed it this bad over a continuing period of time.

I couldn't agree with you more. And I appreciate the time to further extend the comments on this for the new Members of the Agriculture Committee.

I think we need milestones.

I look forward to listening to the testimony and I will submit the rest of my comments for the record.

The use of rural definitions as basic eligibility criteria has created a separate set of problems.

I look forward to hearing from both panels on whether or not a new approach is needed.

However, there should be no question that it is the Congress, and not unelected administrative agencies, who will set the policy for the United States.

I am proud of what this Committee has accomplished in a bipartisan fashion during my time in Congress and I hope we can continue down that road for the next 2 years.

I believe that our recommendations, such as the independence of the safety function within the Department of the Interior, are as important as the decisions that Congress made a number of years ago to make the FBI a quasi-independent…

I know the great work that Chairman Dingell did on this effort. Unfortunately, I cannot support the continuing resolution food safety effort. The good work we did here in the House that was sent over to the Senate, the Senate amendments…

As we return to our districts with the August recess, I want to call attention to the ongoing water supply challenges facing the San Joaquin Valley that I represent. This year, we pushed the administration to use all the flexibility and…

Today I will introduce legislation that will provide for burial benefits in national cemeteries to Hmong veterans who served in support of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Given the service to our Nation, I believe this is an appropriate honor…

This month, the Department of Interior and the California Department of Water Resources announced an increase in water allocation to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. Our efforts to press the administration for more water is producing…

Today, I rise to encourage our leadership to expand our trade opportunities and to grow our economy by calling up and passing our pending free trade agreements. Just this week, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to passing the Korea…