Letter to the President

Letter sent September 12, 2011

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your recent address to Congress on the need to make job creation the top priority this legislative session and for your proposals in regard to invigorating private sector job growth. As the Representative from a district that has been particularly hard-hit during this economic crisis I look forward to working with you to find bipartisan solutions to this issue.

In the Central Valley the foreclosure problem and the wider economic downturn has been compounded by a water crisis that has fallowed the most productie farm land in the world. This water crisis has been partly the result of inadequate water storage that prevents the state from storing sufficient water supply and also reduced water allocations from state and federal authorities that have persisted despite the current year being one of the wettest on record in Ca1ifornia. There is a direct correlation between the water crisis and unemployment: according to estimates by the University of California, every 100 acre feet of water that is lost
costs somebody their job.

That is why as you tour the nation to discuss your job creation proposals I would like to take the occasion to invite you to join me in my district to examine the particular issues that have contributed to high levels of long-term unemployment in California’s Central Valley, where communities are struggling with
unemployment rates as high as 20%. Many of these job losses are concentrated among lower wage workers, further stressing social service programs in the state. I would invite you to join me at a food bank here in the Valley to see firsthand the hardship experienced by so many.

As a farmer and a former State Senator I know that through a combination of targeted infrastructure investment and regulatory reform we can solve this crisis and have an immediate, positive impact on the labor markt in California. While I am mindful that we will not always agree on how to boost job creation, I believe
that on this issue we can find common ground and am eager to welcome you to the Central Valley.

Sincerely,
Jeff Denham
United States Representative