[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 881 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 881

  Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered 
                          Species Act of 1973.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2023

  Mr. Beyer (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Thompson of 
California, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Smith 
  of Washington, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Titus, Ms. 
 Stansbury, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Magaziner, and Mr. 
  Soto) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered 
                          Species Act of 1973.

Whereas Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in December 1973 by a vote of 
        92-0 in the Senate and 355-4 in the House of Representatives;
Whereas President Richard Nixon, upon signing the Endangered Species Act into 
        law, stated, ``Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation 
        than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been 
        blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, 
        scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the 
        heritage we all share as Americans [and] which we hold in trust to 
        countless future generations of our fellow citizens.'';
Whereas decades of polling have shown strong bipartisan support for the 
        Endangered Species Act, with more than 4 out of 5 Americans in favor of 
        it;
Whereas the Endangered Species Act is one of the most successful conservation 
        laws ever enacted by any country, and 99 percent of species protected 
        under the Act have been saved from extinction, including the humpback 
        whale, grizzly bear, and bald eagle;
Whereas thanks to the Endangered Species Act, gray whales still swim our coasts, 
        peregrine falcons still soar our skies, and polar bears still roam the 
        Arctic tundra;
Whereas the Act is currently helping protect and recover more than 2,000 species 
        of plants and animals that are threatened or endangered;
Whereas section 2(b) of the Endangered Species Act incorporates habitat 
        conservation by stating that one of the purposes of the Act is ``to 
        provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and 
        threatened species depend may be conserved'';
Whereas the Endangered Species Act provides added benefits to people by 
        maintaining healthy natural systems that provide us with clean air and 
        water, food, medicines, and other benefits that we all need to live 
        healthy lives;
Whereas the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and 
        Ecosystem Services published a study in 2019 that estimated 25 percent 
        of assessed taxa of plants and animals and 10 percent of insects, which 
        account for 75 percent of all species, could be threatened with 
        extinction;
Whereas, globally, 1,000,000 animal and plant species face extinction within the 
        coming decades, and millions more are declining as habitat loss, climate 
        change, wildlife exploitation, pollution, and other human activities 
        continue to threaten their survival;
Whereas North America alone has lost nearly 3,000,000,000 birds since 1970, 
        which is more than 1 in 4 birds that have disappeared from the landscape 
        in a mere half a century, and in that same timeframe, global wildlife 
        populations have declined by an average of 69 percent;
Whereas, in the United States, nearly half of all ecosystems are at risk of 
        range-wide collapse;
Whereas, as of October 2023, a total of 2,363 species of animals and plants were 
        listed as either endangered or threatened, and 1,668 of all listed 
        species occur in the United States and its territories, and the 
        remainder (695 species) occur solely in other countries;
Whereas the unraveling of the natural world remains a fundamental threat to the 
        well-being of all humanity, which depends on millions of species and the 
        countless services that the web of life provides, and each extinction 
        brings closer the collapse of these planetary life-support systems, 
        including carbon sequestration, pollination, water purification, oxygen 
        production, and disease regulation;
Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that climate change 
        has caused local species losses, increases in disease (high confidence), 
        and mass mortality events of plants and animals (very high confidence), 
        resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions (medium confidence), 
        ecosystem restructuring, increases in areas burned by wildfire (high 
        confidence), and declines in key ecosystem services (high confidence);
Whereas the planet is experiencing a biodiversity crisis, which many scientists 
        conclude is the sixth mass extinction event, with plant and wildlife 
        species across the globe facing heightened risk of extinction that is 
        largely driven by human activity;
Whereas the United States has prioritized the conservation of imperiled species 
        by enacting the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and other landmark 
        conservation statutes; and
Whereas the recovery of species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is a 
        remarkable success that should be celebrated: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives commemorates the 50th 
anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
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