Political Quotes

“I have one more good gentleman from California I would like to hear from. I yield 2 minutes to the young man from Richvale, California (Mr. LaMalfa). Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, this bill, H.R. 2898, is the product of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and will protect State water rights, store more water during winter storms, address invasive fish that my colleague Mr. Denham was talking about that have decimated endangered species, and advance new water infrastructure to prepare for future droughts. One project alone--Sites Reservoir, in my region--would reduce the State's need for rationing by 60 percent with that project. My northern California district is a source of a vast amount of the State's usable water supply and its largest reservoirs; yet even my constituents are facing water rationing. Fields across my district are fallow because Federal agencies haven't adapted to drought conditions. While some in the minority party would prefer to simply hand out borrowed money, doing so only ensures that this crisis will be repeated again and again. Our conditions in our lakes are already desperate. Folsom Lake, for example, will soon be a dead pool, and that is an important water source for Sacramento, due to the attempts to try to keep water under salmon down there. This bill increases access to water for all Californians, without benefiting one region at the expense of another. Mr. Speaker, California and the Nation cannot wait any longer. We need H.R.…”