House Panel Approves California Drought Bill
By Bill Tomson, PoliticoPro.com
The House Natural Resources Committee today approved the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 (HR 2898), Rep. David Valadao’s California drought bill, setting it up for a full floor vote potentially later this month.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy earlier identified the bill as a priority to pass in July.
The bill would allow more river water to be pumped in to California’s Central Valley Project, a federal water management system that services farmers and other users, over the next four years. The legislation has come under repeated fire from environmental advocates who say it would override protections for endangered wildlife. But Reps. Jim Costa, Rob Bishop and other lawmakers argue the bill is necessary to divert water to farmers who are suffering their fourth year of drought in California and are leaving hundreds of thousands of acres fallow because they have no water.
“With tens of thousands of jobs, food supplies and livelihoods at stake, we need to act to address this growing problem now,” said Bishop, chairman of the House natural Resources Committee.
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