[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 129 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2015-E2016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES RECOVERY ACT OF 2005

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                               speech of

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 29, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3824) to 
     amend and reauthorize the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to 
     provide greater results conserving and recovering listed 
     species, and for other purposes:

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, on September 29, 2005, I missed rollcall vote 
506, the vote on final passage for H.R. 3824. Had I been present, I 
would have voted ``nay.'' I was unable to take part in this vote 
because I was attending a constituent funeral.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3824, which is a 
threat to the recovery of endangered species.
  Mr. Chairman, the original Endangered Species Act was signed into law 
by President Nixon in 1973 with the goal of protecting species on the 
brink of extinction, preserving critical habitats from human 
development and exploitation, and safeguarding the diversity of our 
natural wildlife for future generations.
  This bill would redefine the entire concept of the Endangered Species 
Act to protect the short term economic interests of western landowners 
and developers.
  Instead of working to protect threatened or endangered species and 
their habitats for the benefit of everyone, the Federal Government 
would now be driving the extinction of countless species--and your tax 
dollars would be paying for it.

[[Page E2016]]

  We've got to ask ourselves who really needs to be protected here?
  Is it our planet, our future? Or is it the right of some developer to 
build a strip mall?
  I urge my colleagues to vote against this cynical attempt to gut the 
endangered species act.

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