VALLEY LAWMAKERS EYE RIVER, IRRIGATION
By Michael Doyle

Modesto Bee

Jan 7 2009
CA

WASHINGTON — Some familiar San Joaquin Valley priorities are being
resurrected in the 111th Congress, which began Tuesday.

Potentially, the new Congress could restore the San Joaquin River;
provide money for a Yosemite-area school; design an irrigation drainage
cleanup for the valley’s West Side; and help distressed homeowners.

"Unless you solve the mortgage meltdown, you won’t be able to stabilize
the economy," Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said Tuesday.

Cardoza, like his valley colleagues, is carrying over to the new
Congress some old ideas left unfinished in the 110th Congress.

And Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer reintroduced
legislation restoring water flows and salmon to the San Joaquin River
below Friant Dam. The bill, shrunk from previous versions, provides
$88 million over 10 years to the project that will receive funding
from other sources.

Cardoza pushes ethics bill

Cardoza’s first bill of the Congress is likewise a do-over, with a
reintroduced ethics package that adds a fine and two-year prison term
for a public official "who engages in any conduct in furtherance of
a federal felony." A related bill passed the House last year but was
stymied in the Senate.

"It’s more applicable than ever," Cardoza said, citing the recent
allegations against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Cardoza was speaking near the House floor, enlivened by the rituals
that mark the start of a new Congress. Children were everywhere,
including on the lap of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, who held his
1-year-old daughter, Evelyn.

A traditional party line vote, the only one of the year in which
all House members call out their choices instead of using their
voting cards, confirmed Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as House
speaker. Pelosi and her fellow Democrats enjoy a 257-158 margin
over Republicans.

"I don’t like being in the minority like this, obviously," said
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, adding that he is "excited about
a new administration, and the possibility of working together to
solve problems."

The party line means some plans are doomed from the start. Nunes, for
instance, concedes that the odds are against congressional Democrats
approving an energy bill he will be reintroducing that would boost
nuclear power production.

"Obviously, my ideas are not going to become law," Nunes acknowledged,
"but it’s important to put these ideas out there for public
consumption."

Most measures never pass

In fact, most bills fall short. Last year, House members introduced
2,410 bills. A total of 179 House bills were enacted into law, in
some cases folding in bills once introduced separately.

Some returning valley issues are entirely parochial. Radanovich
plans to reintroduce legislation providing federal funding for the
Wawona School and others serving Yosemite National Park employees
and concession workers. The current funding bill is running out.

Other perennial valley priorities cast a wider net, such as the regular
introduction of Armenian genocide commemorative resolutions. These
resolutions are politically popular in the valley, with its large
Armenian-American population. They are unpopular diplomatically
because they antagonize Turkey.

Still other returning bills spark fights between traditional
antagonists such as farmers and environmentalists. Radanovich
will reintroduce legislation from last year to permit more
irrigation water to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta. Environmentalists oppose it.