Political Quotes

“Madam President, what is at issue here? The core issue is whether we raid the waters of Northern California to provide additional water to the farmers of the Central Valley and in so doing whether we wipe out the salmon which provides jobs for 20,000 fishermen. It is a powerful piece of our economy, a piece of our history, and a piece of our soul. That is what is at issue here-- whether we drain these rivers. It has been said there is nothing in this bill that changes how the biological opinions will be applied or the Endangered Species Act will be applied, and that simply is not the case. I will walk you through the three core provisions that are in this bill. The first is section 4001. What it does is set up a pilot project, and that pilot project allows circumvention to biological opinions to open up the delta cross-channel gates. What does that mean? It means when the salmon are returning from the ocean to spawn, these gates are kept closed so the salmon do spawn and continue the cycle of life and productivity, but instead this says no and this pilot project will open the gates and then the salmon get diverted from going up the river. They don't spawn, it doesn't continue, and then it says, we will go ahead and study the impact on the salmon. That is measure No. 1 that bypasses the Endangered Species Act.…”