California lawmaker: Drought is driving residents away

Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) says his state’s drought has driven people out of his district.

“I have certain parts in my district that unemployment numbers are really high, people are already starting to move out of houses, school districts are starting to lose a lot of students because people moved out of the area,” Valadao tells The Hill’s Molly K. Hooper.

{mosads}”I’ve got communities in my district where they’ve gotten to the point where they’re actually transporting water into those communities, so people have water for their homes,” said Valadao, the lead sponsor of H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act.

A similar measure failed last Congress. But Valadao is optimistic that with new leaders in the Senate, the bill will “get some more support” in the upper chamber.

To hear Valadao’s comments, please watch the video above.