Central Valley congressman was the only Democrat to back a GOP oil and gas bill
Rep. Adam Gray pleaded with his colleagues for bipartisanship as they considered a measure dealing with energy policy.
The Merced Democrat then practiced what he promoted, but he was alone.
When the House Natural Resources Committee approved its energy measure–full of provisions encouraging oil and gas drilling in this country–all Republicans voted yes. So did Gray, while all other Democrats voted no.
Gray explained his vote for the bill. ““While there’s plenty I disagree with in this bill…there’s $2 billion in this bill for water storage and conveyance,” he said.
Water issues are a serious matter for his Central Valley district. The money is expected to go to the Shasta Dam enlargement project. That would raise the dam by 18.5 feet for an additional 634,000 acre feet of stored water for the environment and for water users.
An acre foot, which is about 326,000 gallons, is enough water to cover an acre of land about a foot deep, according to the North Marin Water District.
Gray sought to up the amount in the bill to $8 billion, saying Washington should seek to help other projects south of the Bay Delta in order to move more water.
At the moment, he said, there isn’t adequate infrastructure to get water from Shasta to Central Valley users who need it in an efficient way. His effort to include more money was unsuccessful.
A vulnerable Democrat
Gray won his seat last year by fewer than 200 votes. Since he arrived in Washington, he’s stressed how he votes the interests of his district, regardless of whether it’s a Democratic or Republican proposal.
Gray painted his stance this week as an example of his willingness to work with both sides.
He told the committee during its deliberations that political courage is “actually having the backbone to stand up to your own party when it’s not right for your district. Political courage is lacking in this institution in our current day.”
That amount, he said, would “actually solve some of California’s water problems, which doesn’t just benefit California but benefits many states.”
The measure approved by the committee was its portion of the massive Republican tax and spending legislation, a bill that is expected to include big spending and tax cuts. Different committees write the part of the bill that involves their expertise, and those parts are combined into one piece of legislation..
House Republican leaders aim to have that one big bill ready for votes this month, though that prospect is looking dimmer.
GOP members of Congress are torn over how much to cut Medicaid, the federal-state healthcare program for lower income and disabled people called Medi-Cal in California. There’s also controversy over how much to cut taxes.
Gray was adamant that there’s plenty he disagreed with in the natural resources measure. And if the ultimate big bill is too cruel, too difficult for him to sell back home, he’ll vote no.
“I want to make it clear there’s plenty in the bill I think needs to go,” he said. Gray prefers a comprehensive energy plan, and said he thought the bill treated oil and gas differently than solar and wind power.
More important, he said, if the big, final bill is “tied to things like taking food out of the mouths of children or cutting Medicaid from my fellow Americans who need healthcare I’ll be a hard no and you should be, too.”
Bipartisan?
There appeared to be no evidence in the committee of the sort of bipartisanship Gray had urged. Gray’s amendment was defeated 42 to 1. The final bill passed by a 26 to 17 vote, with all Republicans voting yes and Democrats, except for Gray, voting no.
Democratic opponents saw the bill as downright dangerous.
“If Big Oil, Wall Street, and MAGA cultists locked themselves in a room to write a wish list, this bill would be it,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, top Democrat on the committee.
“It torches clean air and water protections, hands over our public lands to polluters at fire-sale prices, and rigs the rules so oil executives can rubber-stamp their own permits in secret,” he said.
Democrats were particularly angry about a last-minute Republican amendment that allowed the sale of huge chunks of public land in Nevada and Utah.
They also objected to the bill’s provisions that will make it easier for oil, gas and coal companies to drill or mine on government land or offshore.
The bill will allow lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, as well as energy production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Republicans predict the changes will mean more than $18.5 billion in savings and new revenue. Trump has pushed for more drilling as he promotes using more American energy resources.
The Republican congressional plan aims to be “unleashing the United States’ abundant natural resources. These budgetary measures will deliver on President Trump’s agenda to make our nation energy dominant today and into the future,” said Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Central Valley congressman was the only Democrat to back a GOP oil and gas bill."
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