Editorial: Feinstein’s water bill flows to the money
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the May 17, 2014, Modesto Bee.
Water flows uphill … toward money. That’s as true now as it was the first time it was uttered by some now unknown cynic. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is proving it.
Our senior senator introduced a drought-relief bill in February that included $300 million for conservation and efficiency measures, aid to low-income farmworkers who are indisputably being harmed by the drought, new tools to help farmers weather this dry year and emergency projects to help ensure the safety of drinking water in poor San Joaquin Valley communities. These were noble goals, especially considering that no such provisions were included in the bill the House passed – which was nothing more than an old-fashioned water grab.
So it was disappointing when the $300 million for those efforts was stripped out of Feinstein’s bill in an effort to get support from Republican senators.
What didn’t get stripped out, though, were two provisions that will help those who are a great deal better off than farmworkers or thirsty kids in poor farming towns.