{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/opening-statement-resources-committee-hearing-on-california-drought", "Opening Statement Resources Committee Hearing on California Drought", "2009-04-03", "2009", "2009-04", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Tom McClintock", "M001177", "mcclintock.house.gov", "mcclintock", "https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Longworth House Office Building. March 31, 2009. M. Chairman: On behalf of my constituents I want to thank the committee for holding a hearing today on California's water crisis.\n\nI think we need to be very clear that although the drought is a catalyst, the underlying problem is not an act of God but rather acts of government.\n\nIt has been estimated that roughly half of California's current water supply is consumed to meet various environmental regulations, most of which began in this very room.\n\nThese laws are not only squandering half of our existing water supply; they are blocking the construction of long-overdue projects like the Auburn Dam.\n\nMy district, in Northeastern California is the headwaters for the mighty Sacramento River \u2013 a considerably larger watershed than the Colorado.\n\nYet, we store 70 million acre-feet on the Colorado and only 10 million acre-feet on the Sacramento.\n\nThe end result is that the most water-rich region of California is plagued by water shortages so severe that many of my communities are in Stage 1, 2 and 3 drought alerts.\n\nAnd this, despite a relatively wet winter that has restored our reservoirs to near normal levels. It seems that God has done his part \u2013 now it is up to government to restore this water to protect the quality of life of the endangered human populations in this region.\n\nPeople are suffering, the economy is suffering, and we have the ability to relieve this suffering. I look forward to hearing testimony today and discussing some common-sense solutions to this government-created problem.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T21:14:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/opening-statement-resources-committee-hearing-on-california-drought"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2084089685231447, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}