mr. mollohan: mr. chairman, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. costa. mr. costa: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i rise to speak in favor of congressman nunes' amendment. my district is at ground zero where the drought is having its most severe affect in california. the biological opinion in question asks for modifications to the central valley and state water projects that would divert even more water froming a culture communities in the san joaquin valley. we believe with the modeling that this adds another 330-acre feet to more than 300 million acre feet of water that has already been reallocated over the last 20 years. there are substantial biological assessments that have been performed of the delta. unfortunately this opinion has confirmed that these opinions have been cited, the assessments have been made but they were not taken into account in this biological opinion. therefore we believe the flawed. there are other factors that contribute to the decline of the fiduciaries and the deltas which we must change, which we must correct. treatment from

mr. costa: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise this evening to discuss what continues to be a pernicious drought conditions that affect the people of the san joaquin valley. those in my district and my colleagues' district. i hope most of the members and -- if not all of you recognize we are in extreme drought conditions in san joaquin valley that is affected not only the richest agricultural region in california but the united states as well. a drought caused by mother nature, expanded by numerous judicial issues and legislative changes has very, very much deaf stated the economy of the valley i represent. water is the life blood of the agricultural communities in my district. supplying over $20 billion industry in the san joaquin valley that provides half the nation's fruits and vedgetebles. number two in citrus production, number one in production of wines. the list goes on and on. 300 commodities grown and produced. number one dairy producing state in the nation. sadly if this drought continues, we'll find not only the

costa. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costa: thank you very much. i'd like to thank mr. berman and the work he and his staff have done on this bill. as we look an the -- i think all of us understand as we lo at the challenges we face around the world there has to be a utilization of all the tools in our foreign policy toolbox to ensure we take care of america's interest and gain greater support in our interests abroad. smart power is a part of that effort. smart power allows us to reenergize our work around the world. specifically, the re-authorization allows us to do work the department of defense is doing more appropriately under the department of state. international organizations, strengthening the peace corps, focusing on drug trafficking and violence along our southern border. there's so many good thing this is measure does. smart power is often overlooked but it's a vital tool in this foreign policy toolbox. we've seen the benefits in afghanistan and iraq and need to continue to do that work. i thank the chairman and -- and his staff for the

as founder and co-chair of the victims' rights caucus along with mr. costa, i'm thankful for the work that the sentencer does to protect the nation's children. at the time the center was founded, 25 years ago, there were little or no resources available to assist law enforcement with the cases of missing children. in fact, there was no way for police to enter information about missing children into the f.b.i.'s national crime computer. today, thanks to the work of the national center for missing and exploited children, this is no longer the case. each year, approximately 800,000 american children are reported missing. when a child is missing, the national center for missing and exploited children work alongside families and law enforcement agencies in locating, finding and recovering the children and bringing them home to their parents. many people may be familiar with john walsh from his tv show "america's most wanted"," but they may not realize the tragic event that led to his advocating on behalf of children and his work with "america's most wanted"