Water Supply, Reliability, and Environmental Improvement Act

WATER SUPPLY, RELIABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 09, 2004)

Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 711, I call up the bill (H.R. 2828), to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to implement water supply technology and infrastructure programs aimed at increasing and diversifying domestic water resources, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, I regretfully rise in opposition to the bill as it currently is constructed; and as a Californian, I fully understand the urgent need to pass legislation to reauthorize CALFED; but if we fail to reauthorize this program, we will sacrifice millions of dollars scheduled to go to important water infrastructure projects. But in its current form, this legislation will jeopardize the delicate balance of water interests in California that we have worked so hard to achieve and make it more difficult for us to reauthorize CALFED.

Instead of codifying the Record of Decision that was agreed to in the CALFED process, this bill disrupts the balance that it created. This bill sets the dangerous precedent of authorizing large-scale projects before they have undergone comprehensive review and analysis. The preauthorization language is bad policy and bad politics.

The gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), and I will offer a motion to recommit this bill that would strip the preauthorization language from the legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the motion so that we can pass a CALFED bill this year and get it signed by the President.

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Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I rise in strong support of the Miller-Tauscher motion to recommit.

As a member of California who represents a large part of the San Francisco Bay-Delta, I fully understand the importance of reauthorizing the CALFED program. Now more than ever, California needs the Federal Government to be an active financial partner in helping restore the delta's ecosystem and meeting our State's growing water needs.

However, the preauthorization language in this bill severely jeopardizes our ability to renew this critical State-Federal partnership. Not only is it bad economic and environmental policy, but insisting on preauthorization, knowing that the other body will reject it, is a failed strategy for reaching agreement this year. Passing this bill as it is currently drafted is a divisive step that fails to really help Californians.

Mr. Speaker, with less than 30 legislative days remaining in the 108th Congress, we must have a smart strategy to get a CALFED bill done for the people of California before we adjourn. I urge my colleagues to support this motion, which will simply remove one paragraph from the bill and immediately return it to the House for consideration.

Our constituents sent us here to make timely progress on water policies that will help them. Removing this objectionable roadblock provision will help us move forward. I urge my colleagues to support the motion to recommit.