Lake Tahoe protection and Sacramento flood control in Senate bill

California’s Salton Sea and state-straddling Lake Tahoe would receive funding for environmental restoration under a bill set for Senate approval Thursday.

More controversial water-related efforts remain stuck in Capitol Hill limbo, however.

Put simply, California’s diverse water ambitions face a complicated future in what remains of the 114th Congress.

Showing some progress, senators have groomed a bill that includes a 10-year, $415 million Lake Tahoe restoration package. The broader water resources development bill also authorizes help for the endangered Salton Sea, the much-diminished Los Angeles River and Sacramento-area flood control, among other projects.

“This bill will save lives by helping to rebuild critical levee systems around the country, including levees to protect the capital of my state and surrounding communities,” Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said during debate.

Boxer is the senior Democrat, and former chair, of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The panel’s water resources bill, which spanned 286 pages before being amended, could be one of Boxer’s final legislative achievements before her retirement at the end of this year.

By an overwhelmingly bipartisan 94-3 vote, the Senate voted Wednesday afternoon to limit further debate, setting up a vote on passage Thursday.

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