their victims are my constituents, the people of the san joaquin valley, who have done nothing to deserve this cruelty at the hands of this government. the clock is ticking. there is very little time left. this congress must act and act now. at this moment, madam speaker, members of this body are at the white house having a luau. and in the meantime, there's 40,000 people without jobs in the san joaquin valley because of the inaction by the democrats in this congress. come back, stop the luau, stop the partying and come back and vote no on this rule and allow amendment on this bill to bring people to the san joaquin valley. come back. stop the partying. come back now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, madam speaker. to address the gentleman from california, in a previous discussion at the rules committee, we talked about the fact that the secretary of the interior, secretary salazar has agreed to visit san joaquin valley and learn more about the situation firsthand to address the very legitimate concern that the g

discuss what continues to be a pernicious drought conditions that affect the people of the san joaquin valley. those in my district and my colleagues' district. i hope most of the members and -- if not all of you recognize we are in extreme drought conditions in san joaquin valley that is affected not only the richest agricultural region in california but the united states as well. a drought caused by mother nature, expanded by numerous judicial issues and legislative changes has very, very much deaf stated the economy of the valley i represent. water is the life blood of the agricultural communities in my district. supplying over $20 billion industry in the san joaquin valley that provides half the nation's fruits and vedgetebles. number two in citrus production, number one in production of wines. the list goes on and on. 300 commodities grown and produced. number one dairy producing state in the nation. sadly if this drought continues, we'll find not only the san joaquin valley but the entire state of california that is already economically depressed, further set back. today, unfortunately,

is 40,000 jobs in the san joaquin valley not enough? should we go to 80,000 jobs? 150,000 jobs? should we put a million acres out of production? you guys are in control. why don't you tell us how many acres you want out of production tonight so we can end the misery. tell the people look, you've got to move out of the valley. they can move to the bay area. maybe there'll be work for them. maybe they'll get green jobs, i don't know. right now we have half a million acres out of production. how many more acres will we put out of production. how many more people will starve because of the inaction of the democrats in this body. how many more? that's all i want to know. i'll yield if anyone wants to answer me how many jobs we're going to lose. the chair: the gentleman from texas controls the time. mr. nunes: looks like we won't get an answer once again, mr. speaker. but i want to thank my democrat colleagues, mr. cardoza and mr. costa for supporting this amendment. i know it's been hard for them, i appreciate their friendship and work on this issue. i want to thank the republican le

make law and get pumping levels back up to historic levels so we can provide water not only to san joaquin valley but los angeles and san diego. could we amend this bill and get something changed here so it could go to obama's desk? mr. lewis: the gentleman is asking a very important question and i will try to be straightforward. this is a conference report which both the senate and the house have come together. but there isn't any question that the gentleman has raised his concerns about water in central california at a level that has gotten the entire country's attention. if there was anyway i could amend this package, the desperate need to get the pumps going and get water to our crops and farmlands in the central valley, i would do so. but i'm unable to help. mr. nunes: i would hope the gentleman would yield again. as we go through the appropriations process and i know you have been helping to get the point across, that we have long food lines, 20% unemployment, these are very serious issues and i would hope that your committee will be helpful. mr. lewis: as we go through our hearings, i migh

ask the question, the secretary of the interior has been there to see the situation in the san joaquin valley. what more does he need to see? what is it going to take action to turn this water back on? how much more damage needs to occur before the obama administration needs to take action or will take action on the needs here? as a person who grew up without water, i'm very, very sensitive to this issue. and i know what a devastating thing it can be not to have water. i now would like to yield to my colleague from tennessee three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for three minutes. . >> madam speaker, i urge a no vote on this rule. i went to the rules committee last night and asked them to make in order my amendment that would prohibit the e.p.a. if using funding to implement or enforce its notice of rule making finding six greenhouse gases constitute a threat to the public's health and welfare. the e.p.a. issued a rules making that found six greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, nitrous ox side and others pose a significant health risk to the public's