[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 118 (Friday, July 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6178-H6179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT OVERREACH

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, the Endangered Species Act was passed 45 
years ago. We have seen a recovery of approximately 2 to 3 percent of 
species since then, but when the baseball All-Star Game is in town, 
nobody is an all-star at 3 percent.
  In my home State of California, an increasing trillions of gallons of 
fresh drinking water flow unused into the ocean, still fish species 
don't recover with all this new water introduced in the last 30 years. 
People's needs are decimated as people need to ask for a glass of water 
in a restaurant or soon decide if they will shower or wash clothes on a 
given day in their homes. Electricity is much more expensive than need 
be.
  Home prices are so high in California, people cannot even live where 
they work, in many cases sometimes commuting 3 hours to where they 
work. No new lands, they say, are suitable other than building on ag 
land or on floodplains. This, while the State attempts to commit tax 
dollars to what they deem affordable housing.
  The ESA back then that was passed with bipartisan support in 1973 was 
well-intentioned, we all agree, on preserving species. Liberal courts, 
nongovernmental organizations, and complicit Federal agencies have 
weaponized it to stop productive Americans, harm jobs, and increase 
imports.
  The Congressional Western Caucus has a package of modest reforms to 
reset back to bipartisan goals of the Endangered Species Act, but we 
will hear how it is gutting the ESA when it is, instead, a series of 
course corrections applied to a 45-year-old law that has been 
reinterpreted and weaponized--accountability, transparency in data use, 
how it is gathered, how success is measured, instead of just being a 
roadblock for no-growthers, lawyers, and environmental groups.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the Congressional Western Caucus Chairman 
Gosar and Mr. Bishop for their work in

[[Page H6179]]

this effort in making this happen and, hopefully, being fruitful in 
adjusting the Endangered Species Act.

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