[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                     PREPARE FOR THE DRY YEARS NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Valadao) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VALADAO. Mr. Speaker, next week, California is expecting more 
atmospheric rivers that are bringing welcome rain to our State. I am 
grateful for this rain and know many of my fellow farmers are. 
Unfortunately, this is deja vu for many of us in the Central Valley 
since not much has changed in the last 12 months to better prepare 
ourselves for a consecutive wet year.
  Just last year, after 3 years of extreme drought, our State was hit 
with enough water to supply farms, communities, and homes for years to 
come. Unfortunately, extreme environmentalists and Sacramento 
bureaucrats have denied the approval of new water storage projects and 
restricted how much water we are able to pump with complex and 
contradictory regulations.
  The devastating flooding in my district and the millions of gallons 
of water that were flushed out to the ocean were the direct result of 
water mismanagement. Many of my constituents are still picking up the 
pieces from this flooding. These storms brought to light many flaws in 
our existing disaster relief programs.
  We must improve coordination between Federal agencies involved in 
disaster relief like FEMA, Army Corps, and the USDA, so that residents 
and industries know who to turn to and have timely access to disaster 
assistance programs and services.
  As we continue working to get additional disaster assistance for 
these communities, we must work to ensure we are better prepared for 
these types of weather events because we know that eventually the rain 
will stop.
  Drought is a recurring feature in California's climate, and the time 
to prepare for those dry years is right now. Maximizing what can be 
moved at all times through the delta, especially during these 
atmospheric river events, and investing in water storage infrastructure 
and conveyance projects is critical to capture and store as much rain 
as possible. If we don't, we will inevitably find ourselves in another 
manmade water shortage.
  We cannot let this water go to waste, and we cannot let the lessons 
learned from last year's storms be in vain. Thousands of livelihoods, 
the future of agriculture in California and America's food security 
depend on it.

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