Water and Drought in California

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, this week, we recognize infrastructure week, where we highlight infrastructure development in our country and its importance to our districts.

Now, we might think that infrastructure isn't very important, but we depend on it in all aspects of our daily lives. Developed roads and bridges help to take our children to school or to take our kids to our national parks. Our bridges, dams, and water are the infrastructure that help to produce energy and provide us with clean drinking water. Broadband infrastructure ensures that everyone has access to learning and to information.

But, unfortunately, our infrastructure is deteriorating at an alarming rate. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that our crumbling infrastructure is costing each of us, each family, $3,400 a year of our disposable income. When we take into consideration the increasingly high cost of living, for example, in Orange County, California, where I live, then we see that our families are, once again, footing a bill, and yet we are not making the investment that we need. In fact, the United States spends significantly less of its GDP than most developing countries for our national infrastructure.

Unfortunately, this lack of investment is apparent throughout our country. We saw it in Flint, Michigan. When infrastructure fails to provide clean water, our communities suffer. In my home State of California, Porter Ranch, California, a massive gas leak released 100,000 tons of methane gas into the air. These failed pipelines reach back to the 1950s.

With respect to our roads, the Department of Transportation found that nearly 68 percent of California's roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and almost 30 percent of California's bridges have been recognized as structurally deficient.

As California enters its fourth year of a drought, we are seeing just how crucial water infrastructure dollars can be during times of turmoil.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have to look no further than my home district to see the positive effects of investing in infrastructure to help our communities. Since I was elected to the Congress almost 20 years ago, the very first project that I championed was building a large factory, the largest in the world, to reclaim our water, to recycle our water, and it is the world's largest advanced reclamation project. Today, that project has recycled nearly 188 billion gallons of water, and it really continues to be the flagship of water recycling.

I have also fought to bring high-speed rail to California and led sending a letter to President Obama urging investment in the project, which will bring increased commercial and leisure travel.

With respect to transit, I recently led a letter from the California delegation asking for $3.2 billion to fund the Capital Investment Grant Program, a program which funds projects all the way from northern to southern California. The Capital Investment Grants will help fund projects in my district, like the Orange County Streetcar, which increases transportation transit through my area so people get out of their cars, we protect the environment, and we move people more efficiently.

Mr. Speaker, this Congress needs to get its act together and invest in infrastructure.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source