California’s water fate is now tied to America’s. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and California Republicans have worked for years to find agreement on a major piece of federal legislation that would address a host of water-related issues critical to the state. Common ground has been so elusive some were declaring the whole thing hopeless earlier this year.

But in a bit of horse trading with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and other Republicans in Congress, the California measures were attached to a much larger Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act — basically hitching up to a much more powerful engine.