Commerce, Justice, Science, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Chair and Members, I understand the frustration of my friends from the Valley on this issue. I've been living it in my district. The last administration devastated the fishing families of the north coast. We haven't had a fishing season up there in years. Again this year it's closed. And it's all because science was put aside in favor of politics. Finally we have science coming in. Science should be allowed to be considered. And as one of the previous speakers, Mr. Miller, has mentioned, this amendment does absolutely the wrong thing. Not only does it take science off the table again, which led us, in part, to this problem and put the courts in control of these rivers, but it also limits our opportunities to address the overall problem. Without the Federal agencies at the table being able to bring different options to solve this problem not only for the Valley families but for the coastal families as well, we're limited, and it's not going to bring any answers forward.

It is a mistake to pass this amendment. It won't solve the problem. It will just exacerbate the situation.

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Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I want to add that this should not be about choosing one job or one person's job over the job of another person. As I mentioned earlier, many, many fishing families on the north coast of California and the coast of Oregon have been displaced. We have lost boats, lost businesses, lost fortunes, lost opportunities, and all because the science was scrapped. The last administration pushed forward a water policy that was illegal, that didn't pay any attention to anything other than politics.

In the Klamath River in my district, that water policy brought us 80,000 dead spawning salmon. It absolutely closed the fishing season on the north coast. It's closed again this year. It's closed on the Oregon coast. And it's all because politics was put ahead of science. You can't do business that way.

The only way to fix this is to bring all of the agencies together, working on the science, to come up with the mitigation that will work to save jobs not only in the valley, but on the coast and everywhere else.

I ask that we vote against this terrible amendment and work together.

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