Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks that the gentleman just made. It would have been helpful, if he was so concerned about the drought--which I am sure you are. I don't mean to imply that you are not. But it would have been helpful if you would have actually voted for some of the amendments that might have addressed the problem, like the McClintock amendment that just passed that said you can't take water and buy it and flush fish down the river when people need it.

The reality is this motion to recommit will not help with the drought conditions in California at all. There are only two things that will help relieve the drought. One of them we have no control over. It comes from a higher power. It is called rain and snow. We can't legislate that.

The second thing is that maybe we could start listening to some of the people who have been advocating to address this problem for several years--Congressman Nunes, Congressman Calvert, Congressman Valadao, Congressman McCarthy, Congressman McClintock, Congressman LaMalfa. They have made real proposals that would require the operation of the complex California water system so that it considered the lives and jobs and families of people before it did fish.

Mr. Speaker, this amendment doesn't do anything. It won't help the drought conditions in California. We have already put money into the grid issue to try to make sure that we secure the grid so that it is not subject to attacks.

The other thing I would say is that this has been a balanced bill. We have got over 60 amendments we have considered from Members on both sides of the aisle. We have adopted many of them, and some of them have been rejected. It has been an open process. It has been the way Speaker Boehner has wanted the appropriations process to work so that all Members could work their will on their appropriations bills.

I don't need to go through the bill. What I would tell you is to reject this MTR and to support the underlying bill. Be happy, smile, and enjoy next week.

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