On the recordFebruary 29, 2012
I had the honor of attending a public hearing in California with the gentleman to my right from California. It was an honor to listen to these people, and I'm pleased to yield 5 minutes to the chairman of the subcommittee that worked through this bipartisan bill, Mr. McClintock. Mr. McCLINTOCK. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, in 2009 and again in 2010, hundreds of billions of gallons of contracted water were expropriated from California farms and instead dumped into the Pacific Ocean in the name of the delta smelt. This tragic policy fallowed hundreds of thousands of acres of some of the most fertile and productive farmland in America. It threw thousands of hardworking families into unemployment. It devastated communities throughout the region, and it created the spectacle of unemployed farm workers standing in food lines to receive carrots imported from China in a region that, just a short time before, had produced much of American-grown fruits and vegetables; and it contributed to rising grocery prices that families felt far beyond the congressionally created dust bowl of California's Central Valley. In the last Congress, the then-minority Republicans begged and pleaded for hearings to address this catastrophe. The majority turned a deaf ear. Last year, we returned as the new House majority to take testimony on what could be done to correct this disaster. The result of those hearings is the bill by Mr. Nunes that this rule brings to the floor.…
