M. Speaker:

I rise today in defense of dissent.

It is a sad milestone when it becomes necessary to do so.  But the ferocity with which this administration is pursuing its critics in business and journalism is becoming alarming.

This isn’t the first time presidents have lashed out at dissenters.  But when a government has seized the power to commandeer companies, dictate salaries for private citizens, establish government monopolies covering entire sectors of the economy, threaten companies with official retribution for merely communicating with their customers, and as of yesterday, to punish thought itself, it evinces a design and an intent that transcends robust debate and becomes deeply threatening to the freedom that our Constitution protects.

If they can intimidate institutions like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Fox News, they know that others will fall obediently in line.  And that is a frightening prospect.
 

House Chamber, Washington D.C.  October 27, 2009.  M. Speaker:  The last time our unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent was in 1983. 

 Ronald Reagan responded by cutting taxes and reducing regulatory burdens on the economy, producing the biggest peacetime economic expansion in the nation’s history.

 Today, President Obama is doing exactly the opposite.  Obamacare and Cap and Trade and many other bills promise the biggest tax increases and heaviest regulations our country has ever seen.   

 Over the last 100 years, three presidents responded to recessions by reducing taxes and regulations: Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan – and all produced rapid and dramatic economic recoveries.

 Two presidents reacted to recessions by doing the opposite.

One was Herbert Hoover in the early 1930’s, who radically increased taxes and spending and imposed unprecedented burdens on trade.   And the other is Barack Obama.

  As they say, those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

Opening Statement, The Honorable Tom McClintock, Ranking Republican, House Water and Power Subcommittee.  Oversight Hearing on “Water Management and Climate Variability: Information Support at the USGS and Bureau of Reclamation."

October 27, 2009

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Today’s hearing is described as an oversight hearing on “water management and climate variability.”  That’s an interesting concept, insofar as the only constant in earth’s climatology is change.  Just within the brief period of recorded human history, we know of periods when the earth’s climate has been much warmer than it is today and others when it has been much cooler.  We know, for example, during the Medieval Warm Period from 900 to 1300 AD, that wine grapes were grown in Northern Britain and Newfoundland and that the temperature in Greenland was warm enough to support a prosperous agricultural economy for nearly five hundred years.  We also know that during the Roman Warm Period from 200 to 600 AD, North Africa was wet enough to support bountiful grain production.  In the second century AD, Ptolemy recorded year-round precipitation throughout the Mediterranean.

We also know that there were other periods when the earth’s climate was much cooler than it is today.  During the Little Ice Age, from 1300 through 1850, the Thames River and New York Harbor regularly froze over.  Indeed, during the Little Ice Age, a wave of religious zealotry swept Europe blaming witchcraft for the dramatic climate changes of the era.

Given the constant variability of the earth’s climate, proper water management requires accurate and abundant data, and I certainly applaud any effort to assure that in planning for our future needs we do so with the scientific data necessary to make informed decisions.

I just want to be sure that it is science and not ideology that is driving the effort.

That’s why I get a little nervous watching, for example, how the Secure Water Act was rushed through this house.  Without any debate or dialogue or hearings on this side, it was dropped into a 1,216 page omnibus bill that could not even be amended.

  Under the guise of the Secure Water Act, the Bureau of Reclamation recently announced a new “River Basin Study Program”  that will – quote – “better define options for future water management of Western river basins…” 

The use of the term, “future water management” has raised concerns by many western water users that this is a program whose purpose is not to produce reliable data but rather to search for ways to justify increasingly Draconian restrictions on water usage.  What we need is an open assessment of the most viable, economical and certain options of assuring an abundance of water for the people of these regions from the natural resources that we enjoy.

If the warming trend that began in 1850 and peaked in 1998 resumes, then the need for more dams and aqueducts will become acute.  I submitted a series of questions to the Bureau of Reclamation to clarify the intent of these studies and I have yet to receive answers.  The Bureau’s silence heightens concerns that this is a solution in search of data to support it rather than a search for data that will illuminate a solution. 

Madam Chairwoman, I have mentioned before that the minority party believes that it should be the principal object of the federal government’s water policy to assure abundance.  The purpose of data collection and management should serve this objective – and not to justify cutting off water to users, rationing water shortages, or imposing wildly expensive recycling or desalination projects at a time when a renewed commitment to public works would produce a new abundance of clean cheap and abundant water.

And that brings me to the fine point of it.  The House Sub-committee on Water and Power can make time for a hearing on water data management, while 40,000 families remain unemployed in the Central Valley of California due to the deliberate diversion of some 200 billion gallons of water by this government. 
I must tell the Subcommittee that I’m disappointed that we are not focusing on the plight of these families, or that 250,000 of the most fertile agricultural acres in the entire hemisphere have been fallowed.  I know there are some who believe that government can control the weather.  There is some skepticism over that point.  But no one can question that we can control the pumps in the Sacramento Delta.
As you know, Madam Chairman, I sent a letter to you on Monday asking for a hearing to resolve these matters and hope that the Subcommittee will act on my request.  There’s no time to waste on reversing the plight of the San Joaquin Valley because what is happening there can happen anywhere else in the West and is entirely within our power to solve.  To ignore their pleas continues to give the impression that this Subcommittee lets the San Joaquin Valley burn while the committee fiddles with lower priority matters like water data management.
 

U.S. Representative Tom McClintock (CA-04 Granite Bay) the ranking member of the House Water and Power Subcommittee today called for a Congressional field hearing on California’s water crisis.

The full text of the letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall and House Water and Power Subcommittee Chairwoman Grace Napolitano requesting the hearing is attached.

Text of letter requesting hearing:

October 26, 2009

Chairman Nick Rahall                                                             
House Natural Resources Committee                                 

Chairwoman Grace Napolitano

House Water and Power Subcommittee
                                                           

I write to respectfully request that the House Water and Power Subcommittee hold a field hearing in California to resolve the water crisis impacting the San Joaquin Valley, all of California, and our nationwide food supply.  This letter follows two attached earlier requests from our colleagues that have been met with silence.

The Natural Resources Committee has held just one oversight hearing this year on California-specific water issues.  That hearing precluded testimony from non-governmental witnesses, which is why many of our colleagues asked for a field hearing which could have included testimony from impacted farming operations, small businesses, individuals and environmental groups.  Further, the only recent opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter is being supplanted with a hearing on water data management.

Meanwhile, this government’s decision to divert hundreds of billions of gallons of water has led to massive unemployment for tens of thousands of families, fallowing on an unprecedented scale, and imported food supplies from China to what used to be the breadbasket of America.  The situation remains unacceptable and has many wondering if Congress has abdicated its responsibility while communities face economic extinction.

The time to act was quite a few months ago, but Congress can still seize the opportunity in time for next year’s planting season.  A hearing should include diversified testimony and the goal should be immediate solutions to bring the unemployed back to work by delivering water once again to the fields.  It is simply wrong to waste any more time on stifling meaningful action to bring 40,000 people back to work.  I stand ready to work with you on this vitally important effort.  I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Tom McClintock

House Chamber, Washington, D.C.  October 22, 2009.  M. Speaker:  I rise in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the underlying bill.  And to explain why, I’d like to walk through a little history and a little math. 

Let’s begin with history and two important years: 1978 and 1839. 

 In 1978, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: “Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 percent of Needs by 2000; Carter May Seek Outlay Boost.”

 Oddly, the same paper carried a headline in 2006 making the same promise this time for all renewable fuels – only this time by 2025 – but I digress.  (view newspaper headlines)

Billions of dollars were poured into research and development for solar technology, and an entire solar industry solely supported by massive subsidies arose to grab those dollars. 

And what was the result of all of this plunder of taxpayers and ratepayers?  More than 30 years after that promise was made in 1978, solar power accounts for just one percent of electricity generation.  That’s not for lack of subsidies – it’s because despite billions of dollars of subsidies, the technology remains immensely inefficient and expensive.

And that brings me to the second year: 1839.   This is not a new technology.  Photovoltaic electricity was first discovered by French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel in the year 1839. 

This technology has existed for 170 years.  And in those 170 years of scientific discovery and progress, and despite billions of dollars of subsidies to the solar industry, we have yet to discover a more expensive way of generating electricity!

When the state of California was squandering its wealth on subsidizing this industry a few years ago, I asked the California Energy Commission what is the price range of various forms of electricity generation. 

And here is what they reported:

The cheapest form of electricity generation is hydroelectric.  It ranges from a quarter cent to 2.7 cents per kilowatt hour – average around 1.5 cents.

Then comes nuclear power, with a midrange around 1.7 cents.

After that, coal, about 1.9 cents. 

Then wind at 4.6 cents and then natural gas at 10.6 cents.   And finally, we get to the most expensive way to produce electricity, solar, between 13.5 cents and 42.7 cents per kilowatt hour, with a mid-range of 28.1 cents.

It gets worse.

In a day, a solid acre of state-of-the-art solar panels can produce 2.2 megawatt hours of electricity, assuming an average of 5 hours of peak sunlight.  2.2 megawatt hours per day. Compare that to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant that produces 49,000 megawatt hours of electricity each day. 

In order to duplicate that single nuclear power plant, it would require 22,000 acres of solid solar panels – or 34 square miles.  By comparison, the Diablo Canyon Power Plant sits on one square mile. 

So this technology, after 170 years and countless billions of dollars of research and development, is roughly 17 times more expensive than nuclear power and consumes 32 times the land area of a comparable nuclear facility. 

But don’t worry, say the proponents of this bill.  It just needs a few billion dollars more to become competitive.  I’m sorry, but we’ve heard that song before. 

I suppose hope springs eternal.  For decades the federal government and gullible states like California have kept the solar industry afloat, pumping billions of dollars into subsidized loans, credits to consumers who buy solar panels and, of course, Research and Development ($166 million last year and $175 million this year by the Department of Energy alone). 

This is an industry that exists solely of the dole, by the dole and for the dole.  It is now clambering for billions of dollars more.  And if this rule is passed and the bill is taken up, they’re going to get it – directly out of the shrinking savings accounts of American taxpayers.

The Solar Technology Roadmap Act of 2009.  You’ve heard of the bridge to nowhere.  This is the roadmap that will get us there.  

McCleery was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas and was deployed to Iraq.  On May 2, 2009, McCleery was shot and killed at a combat outpost in Hammam Alil, Iraq, north of Baghdad.

“Specialist McCleery gave his life in service of his country,” Rep. McClintock said. “ The naming of the post office in Portola as the Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery Post Office Building will memorialize his service and sacrifice for all Americans and the people of Portola.” 

The measure was cosponsored by every member of California’s congressional delegation.

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.

Below are Rep. McClintock’s remarks in support of the legislation:

 
Rep. McClintock’s Floor Speech

HR 3319 Jeremiah P. McCleery Post Office
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
October 20, 2009

Mr. Speaker:

This bill names the Post Office in Portola, California in honor of Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery, who grew up in that town, and who returned to it as a fallen hero at the age of 24.

His best friend was his father, Joe.  A high school friend, Josh Rodgers was asked when Jeremiah was happiest.  He replied, “Whenever he was doing anything with his dad.”  When Jeremiah was four years old, his Dad took him to Twentynine Palms to welcome the triumphant return of American  soldiers from the first Gulf War.  As Shakespeare wrote, “This story shall the good man teach his son.” 

It was from that moment in 1991 that Jeremiah wanted more than anything to serve his country.

Joe and Collette McCleery moved their family to the little town of Portola in 1996, where they built their home themselves – as a family.  And it was in Portola where Miah McCleery grew up.

If you want a sense of the character of this young man, just spend a few minutes with those who knew him.

His older sister Lynette Flanagan tells of how Miah would take on much older bullies at school – not in his own defense, but in defense of others.   She said “He once got sent to the principal's office for getting into a fight. When my mother arrived at school, Jeremiah was not sorry for his actions. He explained with pride that he stood up to a bully who had slapped a little girl. Jeremiah was never afraid to stand up for what he believed in, even if that would get him in trouble.  It didn't matter if a bully was twice his size- he wouldn't back down.”

Jeremiah was a Boy Scout, he joined the Civil Air Patrol and planned to enlist in the Army as soon as he graduated from Portola High School in 2004.

But that year his mother, Collette, was diagnosed with cancer.  He stayed until she died.  Then in 2007, he enlisted.

When his sister, Chastity, begged him not to go, he said that he felt by going into the military, he was protecting his family.

He was an exemplary soldier who commanded the friendship and respect of his colleagues.  While at Fort Hood, he became close friends with another Californian, Jake Velloza, and they shipped out to Iraq together.

He had fallen in love with Amanda Harazin while stationed at Fort Hood.  Amanda is known as “A-J” to her friends, but Jeremiah called her the “Love of his life.”  They were to have been married on May 30th.

But on May 2nd, outside of Mosul, Iraq, at a Combat Outpost in Hammam Alil, American soldiers were attacked by two gunmen wearing Iraqi Police uniforms.  Two U.S. soldiers – Jeremiah McCleery and his best friend, Jake Velloza -- were killed in that attack and three others were wounded.

On May 14th – the day before he was supposed to return to a happy homecoming and impending marriage –   Jeremiah McCleery returned to his hometown to be buried beside his mother.  The local paper described the scene with these words, which speak volumes about the community which helped to mold this American hero:

 “Across the Sierra Valley people lined the highway, some with their hands over their hearts as a mark of respect. In Portola, streets were lined with flag-waving citizens. Shop owners left their stores to join in, temporarily suspending business as usual.”

M. Speaker, I wanted to share a little of what I’ve learned about Jeremiah McCleery, because it helps to answer the question that James Michener first asked: “Where do we get such men?”

We get them from the heart and soul of America.  From good and decent families like the McCleerys.  We get them from little towns like Portola, California. 

Over the summer, I had the honor to visit the men and women who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  The painstaking care and the meticulous precision with which these young men and women discharge their duties – in withering heat and in freezing cold – 24 hours a day – is legendary.

I asked them why they do it.  And one of them told me, “We do it to tell our country that we will never forget.”

For that reason I bring this bill to the House today, with the unanimous support of the Portola City Council, and the entire California Congressional Delegation and the community that watched Jeremiah McCleery grow from a boy to a man and ultimately to return as a hero.  We ask that the Congress name the local post office in honor of Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery, to tell our countrymen that we will never forget.

And also to express our awe and gratitude that humanity has within itself a small band of brothers like Jeremiah McCleery who step forward not for treasure or profit nor even to defend their own freedom, but rather to win the freedom of a people half a world away.  And they do it because their country asks them and because it is virtuous and noble. 

We owe these men and their grieving families a debt that we can never repay, except to honor their memory and keep their sacrifice always in mind – those who gave up everything “To proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

House Chamber, Washington, D.C.  October 20, 2009.  Mr. Speaker:  This bill names the Post Office in Portola, California in honor of Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery, who grew up in that town, and who returned to it as a fallen hero at the age of 24.

His best friend was his father, Joe.  A high school friend, Josh Rodgers was asked when Jeremiah was happiest.  He replied, “Whenever he was doing anything with his dad.”  When Jeremiah was four years old, his Dad took him to Twentynine Palms to welcome the triumphant return of American soldiers from the first Gulf War.  As Shakespeare wrote, “This story shall the good man teach his son.” 

It was from that moment in 1991 that Jeremiah wanted more than anything to serve his country.

Joe and Collette McCleery moved their family to the little town of Portola in 1996, where they built their home themselves – as a family.  And it was in Portola where Miah McCleery grew up.

If you want a sense of the character of this young man, just spend a few minutes with those who knew him.

His older sister Lynette Flanagan tells of how Miah would take on much older bullies at school – not in his own defense, but in defense of others.   She said “He once got sent to the principal's office for getting into a fight. When my mother arrived at school, Jeremiah was not sorry for his actions. He explained with pride that he stood up to a bully who had slapped a little girl. Jeremiah was never afraid to stand up for what he believed in, even if that would get him in trouble.  It didn't matter if a bully was twice his size- he wouldn't back down.”

Jeremiah was a Boy Scout, he joined the Civil Air Patrol and planned to enlist in the Army as soon as he graduated from Portola High School in 2004.

But that year his mother, Collette, was diagnosed with cancer.  He stayed until she died.  Then in 2007, he enlisted.

When his sister, Chastity, begged him not to go, he said that he felt by going into the military, he was protecting his family.

He was an exemplary soldier who commanded the friendship and respect of his colleagues.  While at Fort Hood, he became close friends with another Californian, Jake Velloza, and they shipped out to Iraq together.

He had fallen in love with Amanda Harazin while stationed at Fort Hood.  Amanda is known as “A-J” to her friends, but Jeremiah called her the “Love of his life.”  They were to have been married on May 30th.

But on May 2nd, outside of Mosul, Iraq, at a Combat Outpost in Hammam Alil, American soldiers were attacked by two gunmen wearing Iraqi Police uniforms.  Two U.S. soldiers – Jeremiah McCleery and his best friend, Jake Velloza -- were killed in that attack and three others were wounded.

On May 14th – the day before he was supposed to return to a happy homecoming and impending marriage –   Jeremiah McCleery returned to his hometown to be buried beside his mother.  The local paper described the scene with these words, which speak volumes about the community which helped to mold this American hero:

 “Across the Sierra Valley people lined the highway, some with their hands over their hearts as a mark of respect. In Portola, streets were lined with flag-waving citizens. Shop owners left their stores to join in, temporarily suspending business as usual.”

M. Speaker, I wanted to share a little of what I’ve learned about Jeremiah McCleery, because it helps to answer the question that James Michener first asked: “Where do we get such men?”

We get them from the heart and soul of America.  From good and decent families like the McCleerys.  We get them from little towns like Portola, California. 

Over the summer, I had the honor to visit the men and women who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  The painstaking care and the meticulous precision with which these young men and women discharge their duties – in withering heat and in freezing cold – 24 hours a day – is legendary.

I asked them why they do it.  And one of them told me, “We do it to tell our country that we will never forget.”

For that reason I bring this bill to the House today, with the unanimous support of the Portola City Council, and the entire California Congressional Delegation and the community that watched Jeremiah McCleery grow from a boy to a man and ultimately to return as a hero.  We ask that the Congress name the local post office in honor of Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery, to tell our countrymen that we will never forget.

And also to express our awe and gratitude that humanity has within itself a small band of brothers like Jeremiah McCleery who step forward not for treasure or profit nor even to defend their own freedom, but rather to win the freedom of a people half a world away.  And they do it because their country asks them and because it is virtuous and noble. 

We owe these men and their grieving families a debt that we can never repay, except to honor their memory and keep their sacrifice always in mind – those who gave up everything “To proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
 

 M. Speaker:

 I rise today to pay tribute to U.S. Army Sergeant Joshua M. Hardt of Applegate, California.  He is one of the fallen heroes of the Battle of Kamdesh -- the remote outpost that was besieged and surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by more than 300 Taliban insurgents on October 3rd.  No soldiers in the history of our nation have fought more valiantly or bravely than the defenders of Combat Outpost Keating that day.  In the end, they held their ground, they defended their flag and the honor of their country. 

But most importantly, they defended something fundamental and sacred and eternal that defines humanity itself.  They defended something that can never be abandoned as long as humanity exists.  They defended right against wrong – good against evil – freedom against tyranny – in its most stark and defining form. 

During the terrible winter of 1776, Thomas Paine, having watched many brave young men like Josh Hardt fall in defense of these same eternal truths, offered these words to try to make some sense of it: “Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
Josh Hardt knew that.  And his family knew that.  Through tears, his mother told a local newspaper “He was a very giving son. He went into the Army wanting to make a difference … wanting us to be safe…He expressed his desire to do more; to take more action and to make a difference.  He didn’t know a better way than to go into the military and to fight for everybody.”
And that’s exactly what he did.  He fought for his nation.  He fought for its values.  And he fought for the freedom of a people half a world away.  And he paid for Heaven’s most expensive celestial article with his life -- not for himself, but for others.

I attended a Gold Star dinner recently and admitted to one of the hosts that I still didn’t know what to say to the families.  She said, “just ask them about their sons.”  So let me tell you about Josh Hardt.  He was 24 years old.  He’s remembered at Placer High School as an extraordinary athlete.  He did his school so proud on the football field that they retired his helmet when he graduated. 

He was one of those big hulking kids who stand up for whoever’s being picked on.  I spoke with his wife and mother today who both told me exactly the same thing: that he was first and foremost a family man – willing to do anything for his family.  And his friends.  And his country.

He joined the Army just three years ago.  He had already risen to the rank of sergeant and carried a chest of ribbons including the Bronze Star.  Perhaps the most eloquent testimonies to his service are the remembrances from younger soldiers he had taken under his wing to help.  In fact, that was his next assignment: to come back to the states and help returning veterans.

His football coach, Mark Sabins, remembered seeing him back home last year after his first tour of duty in Iraq and tells how excited he was to be marrying a remarkable young lady, Olivia, and how energized he was about his work in the Army and his plans for a family and how he looked forward to a full and promising life ahead.

Instead, he will return home tomorrow for the last time.  His family and friends and neighbors will come to mourn him and to honor him and to remember him.  His community will hold him up as an example of all that is heroic and virtuous.  His nation will record his name onto its most hallowed rolls that he never be forgotten.  Centuries from now, flags will be placed on his grave every year as future generations gather to consider the cost of their freedom. 

And perhaps in Kamdesh, they will gather around a monument where Outpost Keating once stood and consider the measure of the men who paid everything to purchase for them so celestial an article as freedom.

M. Speaker:

 Those who blame the drought for the tragedy unfolding in California’s Central Valley ignore the fact that this is a very mild drought by historical standards and that in far worse droughts in the past, far more water was delivered to the Central Valley.  I wonder if the proponents seriously deny that 200 billion gallons of water have been diverted to meet various environmental regulations.

It is morally unconscionable that water recycling bills to benefit the pampered and privileged communities of San Francisco can sail through the House, while 40,000 families have lost their jobs in the San Joaquin Valley because this government has diverted 200 billion gallons of water in order to indulge one of the environmental Left’s pet causes, the Delta Smelt. 

But I want to address the basic economics of these programs. 

A generation ago, the principal objective of our water policy was to create abundance.  It was an era when vast reservoirs produced a cornucopia of clean and plentiful water on a scale so vast that many communities didn’t even bother to meter it.

That clean, cheap and abundant water also made America the bread basket of the world – and the Central Valley the bread basket of California.

 But the majority party has abandoned this policy, and has replaced it with a very different philosophy: that the government’s principal focus should not be to produce abundant water, but rather to ration and recycle shortages that government has caused by abandoning abundance as its primary objective.

 The result is increasingly expensive water that now affects our prosperity as a nation.  By its own admission, this Administration is no longer analyzing the costs and benefits of the projects in the bill now before us.  In committee, the administration admitted that it faces a $600 million backlog of 53 water recycling projects like these and still hasn’t even bothered to prioritize them – let alone figure out how to pay for them.

This bill provides a 25 percent federal match for six local water recycling projects in the San Francisco Bay area, and increases the maximum federal cost share for two others.

The total cost to American taxpayers is $38 million in order to produce 2.6 billion gallons, according to the sponsor, or 8,000 acre feet.   

Let’s do the math here.  $38 million for 8,000 acre feet of water.  That comes to $4,500 per acre foot – and that’s just the federal share.  The total cost is four times that amount, or $18,000 per acre foot.

Let’s compare that to the capital cost of the nearby Oroville Dam.  That was roughly $600 million in 1968 – or $3.5 billion in today’s dollars.  That dam produces 3 ½ million acre feet of water.  In other words, the modern day inflation adjusted cost of the Oroville Dam – including its massive power plant -- comes to $1,000 per acre foot.  The projects in this bill cost $18,000 per acre foot, including a $4,500 per acre foot cost to the national treasury, which, in case you haven’t noticed, is empty.

I raised these issues in committee, but didn’t actively oppose this bill because the House has yet to set standards for recycling measures like this one. 

But I must also concur with Ranking Member Hastings, Congressman Nunes and others that it is a travesty that we should vote for 2 ½ billion more gallons of water for San Francisco while taking away 200 billion gallons of water from the Central Valley of California.

At the same time that Central Valley taxpayers are struggling with up to 40 percent unemployment rates, at the same time that all taxpayers are paying higher grocery bills as a result of these unconscionable water diversions, those same taxpayers are being asked to pay a super-premium subsidy to Bay Area water users whose representatives have endorsed this folly. 

And to add insult to injury, Mr. Nunes is not even allowed to offer amendments to restore water deliveries that would mean jobs for 40,000 unemployed Californians without costing the treasury a dime. 

For all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. 

Not only can we do much better – we could not possibly do any worse.

Representative McClintock Announces Town Hall Meetings in Plumas and Sierra Counties:

 
Monday, Oct. 12, 12:00 PM, Chester, Plumas County, Memorial Hall, 225 Gay Street and
 
 
 Monday, Oct. 12, 5:00 PM, Downieville, Sierra County, Community Hall, 327 Main Street