Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we have a serious case of legislative amnesia here. Apparently, the sponsors of this bill and those who are speaking in support of it have totally forgotten what we did last year. The WIIN Act last year addressed every single problem that has been presented here this afternoon: new reservoirs, four were authorized in the WIIN Act, which became law less than a year ago--7 months, to be exact; all of the issues of the outflows of water to the delta were addressed so that additional export of water from the delta could occur. I am wondering: What are we doing here with this piece of legislation, aside from totally eviscerating the protections for the largest estuary on the West Coast, of the Western Hemisphere? The environmental protections are eviscerated. What are we doing with this legislation besides--oh, you wanted to talk about private water rights? Those private water rights are set in place by the laws of the State of California, which are overridden by this piece of legislation. Yes, that is true. This legislation removes the water rights that the State of California has given to individuals as well as irrigation districts, but they are stripped away. What is this all about? Last year, a 2-year effort was completed and the WIIN Act was passed by this Congress, signed into law. It is in existence. Reservoirs can be built. Water conservation will take place. All of the things that we need to do are in place today. So why are we fighting this fight?…”