{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://lamalfa.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/new-calif-drought-relief-bill-faces-opposition", "New Calif. drought relief bill faces opposition", "2014-12-08", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Doug LaMalfa", "L000578", "lamalfa.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "A new drought-relief bill a California congressman has proposed to make the most out of this summer's negotiations with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has itself encountered opposition from Democrats in the House of Representatives.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\nA California congressman\u2019s drought relief bill is encountering criticism from Democrats in the House of Representatives.\nU.S. Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., has introduced legislation his office says is a watered-down version of a bill that passed the House earlier this year but couldn\u2019t be reconciled with a Senate measure sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.\nThe legislation would allow more water to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta during storms but wouldn\u2019t affect the Endangered Species Act, explained Kevin Eastman, spokesman for Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., a bill cosponsor.\n\u201cThe primary effect of this bill ... is to allow increased access to water in the Sacramento watershed and Delta during winter storms when water levels are higher than they normally are,\u201d Eastman said. \u201cOur goal is to pass this bill and allow California to bank more water from what storms we do get so we\u2019re prepared for the coming year.\u201d\nBut seven Northern California Democrats in the House say the bill is another attempt to \u201coverride\u201d environmental laws and would make it difficult for state and federal water agencies to make real-time water decisions.\n\u201cThe idea that this bill is a \u2018compromise\u2019 is laughable,\u201d said a statement by Reps. Jared Huffman, George Miller, Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNemey, John Garamendi and Ami Bera.\nThe lawmakers lamented that the bill wasn\u2019t reviewed by the Natural Resources Committee or by affected water agencies or industries.\n\u201cIt is clear that this bill was thrown together without any input from anyone other than those who stand to benefit from its passage,\u201d they said.\nThe bill \u2014 House Resolution 5781 \u2014 was introduced last week after Feinstein, D-Calif., announced that efforts to merge her bill with the earlier House version were dead for the year.\nLegislation by Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., offered $300 million in aid and would have directed federal agencies to be as flexible as the law allows in facilitating water transfers.\nThe bill that passed the GOP-led House in February would have eased environmental restrictions on pumping from the Delta to send water south, where some 500,000 acres of cropland was expected to be idle this summer.\nFeinstein worked with House Republicans for months to try to arrive at a compromise that could pass both chambers, drawing criticism from environmental and fishing groups and some members of Congress from her own party. She vows to try again in 2015, The Associated Press reported.\nFeinstein\u2019s office did not respond to the Capital Press\u2019 inquiry as to whether she has an opinion on the latest bill.\nValadao\u2019s bill won praise from California Farm Bureau Federation president Paul Wenger, who said in a statement that the legislation keeps the issue \u201cfront and center\u201d in Washington.\n\u201cWhen we have storms such as those that have reached California this week, we simply must be able to capture as much of that runoff as possible,\u201d Wenger said.\nEastman rejects criticism that the new bill would undermine environmental regulations, arguing it is \u201calmost entirely language that California Republicans in the House worked on in negotiations with Sen. Feinstein,\u201d who\u2019s known as an environmental stalwart.\n\u201cWe\u2019re very optimistic that we have a bill that, if you take an honest look at it, is very non-controversial,\u201d Eastman said. \u201cIt\u2019s temporary in nature, it addresses an emergency the state is facing now. We\u2019re going to pass it out of the House, and we\u2019re optimistic that Sen. Feinstein and other members of the Senate will take a fair look at it. We have a good opportunity to pass it in the Senate as well.\u201d\nOnline\nHouse Resolution 5781:\u00a0https://valadao.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hr5781.pdf", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://lamalfa.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/new-calif-drought-relief-bill-faces-opposition"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.371565904468298, "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"}