San Joaquin River Reliability Act

Floor Speech

Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 1837, the so-called San Joaquin River Reliability Act. This bill should be called the San Joaquin River Runs Dry Act. It will literally divert water from fishing and farming communities in California and send it right into the open arms of agribusiness.

The author and backers of this bill don't want a sustainable water policy for California. Instead, they want to overturn a century of California law that protects healthy waterways for fish, crops, and drinking supplies.

This bill should be called the GRAB Act, Give Rights to Agribusiness. It represents an unprecedented intrusion on States' water rights by the Federal Government. This goes beyond California and would affect water policy across the Western States.

Taking water away from farmers and fishermen struggling to make ends meet is bad for our economy and bad for our country. I urge my colleagues to protect States' rights, to support farming and fishing families, and vote against this extreme overreach of a bill.

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