California lawmakers’ failure to pass water legislation this Congress raises questions about strategy, tactics and the ability to learn from falling short.
It also sets the stage for next year when – wait for it – the whole anti-drought drama returns for an encore.
On Thursday night, the House concluded its work for the 113th Congress by approving a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill that funds federal government agencies for nine months. The must-pass bill does not include the California water language sought by some lawmakers and opposed by others.
“The lesson,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., “is that there is still a sharp rivalry between the different regions of California.”
Costa, House Republicans and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California had been seeking last-minute legislative language they could add to the 1,603-page omnibus bill. Among themselves, they seemed last Sunday to have a deal that could boost water exports to farms and other users south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Among Northern California Democrats, though, the latest language still sounded like a water grab hatched in secret. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California would not relent, and she worked with Senate Democratic leaders to keep the 20-plus pages of negotiated language off the omnibus.
The omnibus package, and the Senate’s related unwillingness to take up a separate House-passed California water bill, leaves up to the state’s lawmakers the job of explaining to their drought-weary constituents why little happened this year. Expect finger-pointing, at first.
Below the surface, Feinstein insisted, “progress toward a bipartisan bill” was made that might inform next year’s work. Some key personal relationships improved. Feinstein and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., became more comfortable with each other. House and Senate staffers, too, got to know each other well through months of negotiations.
Some on Capitol Hill, though, also nurtured beefs against one another. This, too, might inform next year’s work, in a Hatfield-and-McCoys kind of way. Already, some Republicans are saying they’ll charge ahead next year thanks to GOP control of both House and Senate.
Farmers’ advocates believe the Obama administration deliberately slow-walked negotiations, with administration officials at one point missing a negotiating deadline by about eight weeks. Boxer, the farmers’ advocates believe, did not play a constructive role; Nunes said outright that Boxer “killed” the bill.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/12/11/249794_california-lawmakers-look-to-2015.html?rh=1