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Congressman Devin Nunes released the following statement following President Obama’s first address to Congress.

“President Obama is our Chief Executive and our nation is in crisis. I am prepared to stand with him and am ready to support him if he is willing to recognize the disaster faced by the people of the San Joaquin Valley.

Meaningful help from Washington has not come as a result of Congress’s rush to bail out Wall Street. It will not come from the recent expansion of government programs, despite being labeled as economic stimulus. And meaningful help will not be found in higher taxes levied on small businesses. The problems in the San Joaquin Valley are larger than the national economic crisis. Our communities are not simply in distress, they are dying. They have been denied access to water and are withering to extinction.

For this reason, I believe any serious effort to address economic suffering in our nation must also address devastating water shortages in California. With more jobs at risk than those associated with the well connected Big Three Automakers and higher unemployment and poverty than anywhere in the nation, the people of the San Joaquin Valley will know when meaningful help arrives.

We are in the midst of a national economic downturn and a housing crisis of unparalleled proportions. At the same time, San Joaquin Valley residents face a third year of a man-made drought; one that has driven rural communities to the brink. Now, as their parched communities suffer, valley residents are being told that existing water supplies are needed for fish, not people.

Laws and regulations that have prioritized two inch minnows in the Bay Delta over families and communities in the San Joaquin Valley need to be suspended, re-examined and changed. If we don’t see a change in direction from Washington and a real commitment to our valley, nothing the President or Congress does will make any difference. I hope this change is coming and I look forward to working with the President and House leaders to bring meaningful assistance to the hardworking people of the San Joaquin Valley.”