[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TIME TO REFORM THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

  (Mr. BONILLA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONILLA. Madam Speaker, it is time to reform the Endangered 
Species Act and our people have waited long enough. Private property 
owners are sick and tired of the Federal Government stepping in and 
taking their land because the ESA cares more about bugs than about 
people.
  There has been a lot of talk in this Congress about reforming the ESA 
to make it work for people and species. I commend the gentleman from 
Alaska, Chairman Young, and the gentleman from California, Mr. Pombo, 
for the tremendous efforts in developing legislation to reform ESA. But 
this bill deserves our immediate attention. This is why I have chosen 
to go the extra mile for hard-working farmers and ranchers who have 
suffered the consequences of a bad law.
  Today I am beginning the process of submitting a discharge petition 
to get much-needed ESA reform to this floor as quickly as possible. The 
current ESA legislation has failed to recover species. The ESA has 
saddled property owners with outrageous fines because of Federal 
designation of critical habitat.
  ESA reform establishes a cooperative framework for these landowners 
to work together with the Government to protect species. The people of 
Texas want to conserve species and to protect the environment. I ask 
everyone in this Congress to support me and sign the Bonilla discharge 
petition.

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