Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, teamed up Monday to slip a legislative rider into a giant end-of-year water infrastructure bill that would override endangered species protections for native California fish for the purpose of sending water to San Joaquin Valley farmers.

Retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., angrily denounced the rider as a “poison pill,” calling a late-afternoon news conference, during which she lashed out against McCarthy, saying he lied by calling the more than 80-page provision a “little, small agreement.”