Rob Bishop: “I had the opportunity of going down to California to one of the hearings where we met the farmers who are living in this…”

“I had the opportunity of going down to California to one of the hearings where we met the farmers who are living in this particular area. I heard their anguish. I understood their anger. Their ability to make a living was being prohibited while we in Congress simply talked about unrealistic concepts. They were living in pain while we continued to talk. Actually, our actions and talking were causing that particular pain. This bill is about trying to help people. This is time to put people in the forefront and put our ideology behind so that we can solve a problem that has been caused by us. This effort is to put forward legislation that corrects harms that are inflicted by onerous, extreme, completely unbalanced Federal regulations which too often seem to favor a narrow special interest group constituency as opposed to a balanced approach to protect our environment while considering jobs and the needs of real human people. {time} 1330 As many have said already, our colleagues have put forth a program which, unfortunately, is causing massive unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley, causing thousands of acres which were the most productive farmland to go fallow, and risks turning this productive area into a dust bowl causing erosion. These are negative environmental and economic impacts that were not considered in the Federal Government's original decision, but ought to have been and should be considered now.…”