[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3837-H3838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA

  (Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COSTA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to call for immediate response 
and Federal action to assist California in the drought crisis that 
we're facing today. Clearly, the entire Nation is feeling a financial 
meltdown with home foreclosures and many other challenges we face, but 
in California, beyond that, we have a drought that also involves a 
dairy meltdown.
  We have reservoirs that are low, Federal allocations that are set at 
zero in the San Joaquin Valley, which I represent, along with many of 
my colleagues, 20 percent for State water deliveries. As a result, we 
could lose as many as 80,000 jobs. The economic impact could be as much 
as $2.2 billion in the San Joaquin Valley that we represent.
  Small communities have been crippled. Communities that I represent 
like Mendota and Firebaugh have 36 to 40 percent unemployment. Delano, 
with over 50,000 people, has over 34 percent unemployment.
  Naming a drought task force is helpful but it is not enough. Plain 
and simple, we don't need words, we need

[[Page H3838]]

water. Federal and State collaboration is urgently needed and needs to 
be improved to make stimulus funds available for immediate relief and 
to relax standards that prevent water supplies from going to those who 
most need it.
  We ask for your help to increase the water supply for California's 
future.

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