Boxer will be missed. Boxer slams water bill rider backed by Feinstein

[NCTraveler]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, teamed up Monday to slip a legislative rider into a giant end-of-year water infrastructure bill that would override endangered species protections for native California fish for the purpose of sending water to San Joaquin Valley farmers.

Retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., angrily denounced the rider as a “poison pill,” calling a late-afternoon news conference, during which she lashed out against McCarthy, saying he lied by calling the more than 80-page provision a “little, small agreement.”

“This is so wrong it is shocking,” Boxer said of the provision, saying it would authorize water pumping from the state’s rivers beyond what is allowed under the biological opinions for fish protection. She said the legislation also would transfer from Congress to the incoming Trump administration the power to approve big dam projects in the West.

Boxer vowed to use every tool at her disposal to block the legislation.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Boxer-slams-water-bill-rider-backed-by-Feinstein-10699564.php