Boxer attempts filibuster to block water bill
Senator, who is soon retiring, succeeds in delaying vote on plan
WASHINGTON — In a defiant final act of her long career, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer mounted a filibuster on the Senate floor Friday morning attempting to block passage of water bill amendments she says would harm salmon and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to deliver more water to farmers
Boxer, the California Democrat, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, spent about 90 minutes denouncing the bill.
“I ask a no vote on a bill that would undo the entire salmon fishery on the West Coast. Don’t drop this in at the last minute,” Boxer said about amendments that were added at the last minute to an $11 billion water infrastructure bill with projects across the nation.
While Boxer and her allies succeeded in delaying the vote, Senate Republicans countered with procedural steps to assure that a vote will be taken sometime this weekend or early Monday. The House approved the bill 360-61 on Thursday.
Several environmental and fishermen’s groups back Boxer’s fight against the eleventh-hour amendments, which open the door to deliver more Delta water to San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California at the expense of Delta fish and water quality.
Boxer, who is retiring after 34 years in office, said she thought her farewell speech earlier this week would be her last in the Senate — until the amendments were added.
She called the amendments a “grab for big agriculture, which will destroy the salmon fishery and is going to bring pain on the people who drink water from the Delta.”
Some Republican senators disagreed, and touted the bill as drought relief to thirsty farms and cities.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the other Democrat from the Golden State, has backed the amendments as the best federal deal California can get for its water woes.
“This bill isn’t perfect,” Feinstein said earlier this week, “but I do believe it will help California, and it has bipartisan support.”
Feinstein said it’s important to pass a water bill now because the incoming Trump administration may try to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, which restricts water pumping to protect Delta fish listed as threatened or endangered.
Feinstein said the bill amendments have explicit language to not undermine endangered fish protections. However, Boxer and the Golden Gate Salmon Association say the words are hollow protections.
The Delta is a major habitat for fish and water source for 25 million Californians and vast farms.
Boxer herself played a major role in drafting the bill, but Republicans recently added the controversial amendments over her opposition. As a result, she said she had to speak out against her own bill.
“It breaks my heart,” she said, adding that the amendments were airdropped into the bill.
Boxer pleaded Friday for other senators to delete the amendments, but Republicans said they don’t intend to do that.
Because the House already has adjourned for the year, any Senate amendments could not be voted upon until 2017 when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
The Obama administration has said it is troubled by parts of the bill but has not said whether the president will veto it.