Mike Thompson: “The Thompson-Eshoo amendment states that nothing in this bill can go into effect if the Secretary of the Interior…”

“The Thompson-Eshoo amendment states that nothing in this bill can go into effect if the Secretary of the Interior determines that any agricultural, fishery, or related jobs will be lost in northern California counties as a result of this bill. I represent a community with varied economic interests: agriculture, fisheries, and tourism. Our amendment would protect these jobs from this politically driven legislation that would divert water to south-of-delta private agricultural interests. Proponents of this bill claim that the bill protects jobs. The bill does the exact opposite of what it claims to do. It's a job-killer bill. It creates economic winners and losers based on south-of-delta interests. The livelihoods and concerns of individuals outside of this limited area are ignored in order to support well-heeled agricultural interests south of the delta. In my home district, over 2 million acres of farmland support a greater than $1 billion market value of products. Over 10 percent of these farms depend on irrigation. I do not believe that these farmers are less important than the south-of-delta farmers. Their jobs, their income, their families should not be sacrificed. However, this is not simply a northern farmer versus southern farmer issue.…”