Food Security is National Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. VALADAO. Madam Speaker, California is in its second consecutive wet year.

Every major reservoir in our State is above the 15-year average, and our snowpack in the Sierras is at more than 100 percent of average for this time of year.

These conditions should mean that our farmers and communities are finally getting the water deliveries that they desperately need after years of drought.

Sadly, that is not the case.

Central Valley Project contractors rely on meaningful allocations from the Bureau of Reclamation for their yearly planning, including the type of crops they will plant and when.

Despite these favorable conditions, our South-of-Delta farmers were still not allocated 100 percent of the water they contract and pay for this year from Reclamation.

In February, our South-of-Delta farmers were allocated just 15 percent of their contracted supply. In March, these numbers were updated to 35 percent. Just last week, these allocations were bumped to 40 percent, a mere 5-percent increase, with no real explanation or transparency on the decisionmaking process.

A 5-percent increase is insufficient for our family farms and downstream communities who rely on meaningful allocations from Reclamation to grow the food that feeds the world.

California grows a quarter of our Nation's food, so these allocations are critical to the fate of our Nation's food supply.

I urge Reclamation to significantly increase the allocations for South-of-Delta water contractors so our communities can meet the Nation's food supply needs.

Food security is national security, and our ability to grow food for the Nation will not survive without a reliable water supply for South- of-Delta agriculture.

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