[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1208-H1210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INCLUDING CALIFORNIA IN NUTRIA ERADICATION AND CONTROL ACT OF 2003

  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3399) to amend the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 
2003 to include California in the program, and for other purposes, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3399

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. NUTRIA ERADICATION.

       The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 
     108-16) is amended--
       (1) in section 2--
       (A) in subsection (a)--
       (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Wetlands and tidal 
     marshes of the Chesapeake Bay and in Louisiana'' and 
     inserting ``Wetlands, tidal marshes, and agricultural 
     lands'';
       (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``in Maryland and 
     Louisiana''; and
       (iii) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:
       ``(3) Traditional harvest methods to control or eradicate 
     nutria have failed. Consequently, marsh loss, loss of public 
     and private wetlands, and loss of agricultural lands are 
     accelerating.''; and
       (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``the State of Maryland 
     and the State of Louisiana'' and inserting ``any State that 
     has demonstrated the need''; and
       (2) in section 3--
       (A) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
       ``(a) Grant Authority.--The Secretary of the Interior 
     (referred to in this Act as the `Secretary'), may provide 
     financial assistance to a State, in an amount that is in 
     proportion to the total impacted area of such State affected 
     by nutria, that has demonstrated to the Secretary sufficient 
     need for a program to implement measures to eradicate or 
     control nutria and restore marshland, public and private 
     wetlands, and agricultural lands damaged by nutria.'';
       (B) by striking subsection (b);
       (C) in subsection (d)--
       (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``the program may'' and 
     inserting ``a State program referred to in subsection (a) 
     may''; and
       (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the program may'' and 
     inserting ``a State program referred to in subsection (a) 
     may'';
       (D) in subsection (e), by inserting ``to a State'' after 
     ``provided'';
       (E) in subsection (f), by striking ``$4,000,000'' and all 
     that follows and inserting ``$12,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2021 through 2025.''; and
       (F) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) as 
     subsections (b) through (e).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Neguse) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
McClintock) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members

[[Page H1209]]

may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 3399, the Nutria Eradication and Control 
Act of 2003.
  In case you were not lucky enough to see the stuffed nutria that the 
distinguished gentleman from California brought to our hearing in the 
Natural Resources Committee, you are in luck, because I understand that 
it is making another appearance here today on the floor.
  You can see firsthand that nutria are a large, invasive rodent 
species that have infested and damaged wetlands across the United 
States.
  This species was originally introduced to the United States in 1899 
for fur production, but its rapid breeding and destructive burrowing 
became a huge problem in areas like the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Chesapeake Bay.
  In 2003, by way of background, Congress passed the Nutria Eradication 
and Control Act to provide assistance to Maryland and Louisiana to 
eradicate or control nutria and to restore wetlands destroyed by 
nutria. According to some estimates, if these measures had not been 
adopted, nutria could have destroyed 17 percent of the Chesapeake Bay's 
marshes in a 50-year period.
  While this program has been successful in Maryland and Louisiana, now 
the nutria have invaded habitats across the United States.
  Representative Harder's much-needed bill would expand the Nutria 
Eradication and Control Act of 2003 to include any State with a nutria 
infestation issue and make them eligible for funding under the act.
  It is important to consider this bill in the context of the state of 
our wildlife and habitat today. Species are going extinct at a faster 
rate than ever before in human history. Habitat loss is a major driver 
of the extinction crisis that we are experiencing, and so protecting 
and restoring wetlands from invasive species like nutria is an 
important piece of the puzzle for protecting biodiversity in our 
country.
  In the face of the climate crisis, we must do all we can to protect 
habitat and wildlife, and eradicating this destructive invasive species 
is a step in the right direction.
  I thank my distinguished colleague from California for his leadership 
in introducing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  It is easy to joke about the nutria, more commonly called a ``swamp 
rat,'' but their proliferation in regions like California is a growing 
threat to water infrastructure throughout the State.
  Louisiana has suffered this invasive species since the 1930s; the 
Chesapeake since the 1940s. They are now proliferating in California, 
where they destroy irrigation systems, undermine dams and levees, erode 
riverbanks, displace native wildlife, and lay waste to aquatic 
vegetation.
  This legislation amends the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 
2003 and reauthorizes funding for the program until fiscal year 2025. 
Currently, Maryland and Louisiana are the only States eligible for 
funding, yet the problem is national. According to estimates, there 
could be nearly a quarter million of these destructive creatures in 
California within 5 years if we don't take action now.
  California has enough problems of its own making to deal with. It 
requires the same assistance as provided to other parts of the country 
to control this invasive infestation, and this bill broadens the 
eligibility nationwide to do so.
  During committee consideration, this measure was amended to more 
closely resemble the language included in my legislation, H.R. 5217, 
the Water Optimization for the West Act, which makes this a national 
program rather than an earmark.
  I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from California (Mr. Harder) and his nutria, whose name is 
Nellie.
  Mr. HARDER of California. Madam Speaker, people see swamp rats all 
the time roaming the halls of D.C., but I believe this is actually the 
first time in American history that we have a taxidermied swamp 
creature on the actual floor of the House of Representatives.

  This here is my good friend, Nellie the Nutria. She has nacho-cheese 
colored teeth, can weigh up to 40 pounds, she can eat 25 percent of her 
body weight every single day, and she has an exponential rate of 
growth.
  She may look cute to some people, but Nellie and her friends are a 
real menace, and farmers across California's Central Valley and 
residents of the Louisiana swamp can tell you, too, how serious of a 
threat these giant swamp rats pose.
  Nutria can destroy crops, irrigation canals, wetlands and native 
species. And their exponential growth rate makes them a real problem. 
One female, like Nellie here, can lead to 200 offspring in a single 
year. The State of California estimates that if we don't do something 
about this problem, there are going to be 250,000 nutria in our State 
within the next 5 years.
  Nellie's family in Louisiana have already caused an immense amount of 
damage over the last 100 years. And my Republican colleagues on this 
bill, Mr. Graves and Mr. McClintock, can attest to the real havoc these 
swamp rats cause.
  My bill would simply revive a program that the State of Maryland used 
to almost entirely eliminate the infestation in the Chesapeake Bay, 
where Nellie here came from originally. That program uses a variety of 
strategies to control and eradicate this invasive species. It ended up 
saving a lot of money in the long run, and my bill is going to bring 
back that proven program and make more States eligible for help.
  This is a tiny investment compared to what will be necessary if we 
wait any longer.
  I want to thank all my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who 
joined me on this bill and ask for support in stopping this invasion.
  There is a lot of bickering that goes on in this Chamber, but I am 
proud that this is something Mr. Graves, Mr. McClintock, and myself 
could find something that unites us, which is draining the swamp, not 
just in Washington, but also in California and Louisiana, and the rest 
of the country.

                              {time}  1345

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves).
  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I look at the nutria, and I 
have to disagree with my friend from California. I feel like I see 
swamp rats on the floor all the time. But I do appreciate him bringing 
the actual species here to help folks understand what it is that we 
deal with.
  Madam Speaker, I have come on this House floor many times to describe 
the coastal challenges that we have in Louisiana. We have lost 2,800 
square miles of our coast. And I remind my colleagues that if the State 
of Rhode Island lost 2,800 square miles of their coast, we would have 
49 States today.
  Nutria is part of the problem. It is an invasive species. The 
population in my home State is nearly 4.5 million people, yet we have 
an estimated 20 million nutria. It is an extraordinary figure.
  If we could count them in the Census, we would have an additional 27 
Members of Congress. We are having infestation without representation, 
and we need to do something about it.
  In Louisiana, we have a thing where if you can't beat it, you eat it. 
So, we have even tried. We have tried to do nutria fajitas. We have 
tried to fry it. We have tried everything. It is not my favorite, Madam 
Speaker, but this really is a huge problem.
  Very seriously, we have 20 million nutria, and they cause the 
destruction and damage of tens of thousands of acres of our coastal 
wetlands every single year.
  As my friends Mr. McClintock and Mr. Harder from California brought 
up, it is things like levees, productive

[[Page H1210]]

estuaries, irrigation canals, and other things that have devastating 
consequences.
  This legislation does take some of the lessons learned from the 
programs in Maryland and Louisiana and expands upon the flexibility of 
dollars to actually not just work on eradication efforts but also do 
some restoration work.
  I thank the subcommittee chairman, Mr. Neguse, my friend from 
Colorado; Mr. Harder; as well as the ranking member, Mr. McClintock, 
for their work on this. This is a bipartisan bill. It is based upon and 
enacts improvements that we have seen as a result of this program being 
carried out in Louisiana and Maryland.
  I am looking forward to this going over to the Senate, and I strongly 
urge adoption of this important bill to help get this invasive species 
under control to help protect our communities.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, after the gentleman's description, I 
am going to resist the temptation to comment on the unique culinary 
traditions of my friends in Louisiana.
  In California, we don't want to eat them. We just want to get rid of 
them. That is what this bill is all about.
  I urge its adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I very much enjoyed this fascinating 
debate, and I appreciate the leadership of our colleague from Louisiana 
on this issue for many years and, of course, our colleague from 
California for initiating the bill before the House.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3399, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________