One of the biggest backers for building new dams and reservoirs in California is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. The Republican, who’s been described as the most powerful Californian in Washington D.C., recently spoke on the House floor in favor of a bill to speed up studies on five water storage projects in the state. “Water is not optional. Not in my district. Not in California. Not anywhere,” McCarthy told his colleagues. “But over the past five years my constituents have struggled to survive without life-giving water in the face of a catastrophic drought.”