[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 130 (Thursday, July 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4044-H4049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE UNITED STATES FISH AND 
 WILDLIFE SERVICE RELATING TO ``ENDANGERED AND THREATENED WILDLIFE AND 
  PLANTS; LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN; THREATENED STATUS WITH SECTION 4(D) 
RULE FOR THE NORTHERN DISTINCT POPULATION SEGMENT AND ENDANGERED STATUS 
             FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTINCT POPULATION SEGMENT''

  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 614, I call 
up the joint resolution (S.J. Res. 9) providing for congressional 
disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule 
submitted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service relating to 
``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Lesser Prairie-
Chicken; Threatened Status With Section 4(d) Rule for the Northern 
Distinct Population Segment and Endangered Status for the Southern 
Distinct Population Segment'', and ask for its immediate consideration 
in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 614, the joint 
resolution is considered read.
  The text of the joint resolution is as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 9

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress 
     disapproves the rule submitted by the United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service relating to ``Endangered and Threatened 
     Wildlife and Plants; Lesser Prairie-Chicken; Threatened 
     Status With Section 4(d) Rule for the Northern Distinct 
     Population Segment and Endangered Status for the Southern 
     Distinct Population Segment'' (87 Fed. Reg. 72674 (November 
     25, 2022)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The joint resolution shall be debatable for 
1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their 
respective designees.
  The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).


                             General Leave

  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on S.J. Res. 9.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 9, sponsored by Senator 
Marshall of Kansas. This bipartisan resolution will protect voluntary 
conservation while eliminating the litigation-driven listing of the 
lesser prairie-chicken.
  Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule 
listing the lesser prairie-chicken as an endangered species. The rule 
created two distinct population segments. In the northern segment, 
which covers Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle, the 
lesser prairie-chicken will be considered threatened in that area, 
while in the southern segment, which covers New Mexico and west Texas, 
it would be considered endangered.
  The lesser prairie-chicken is a boom-and-bust species that is 
extremely susceptible to precipitation in its native range. Simply put, 
when it rains the lesser prairie-chicken populations grow, and in 
droughts their populations often shrink.
  To ensure a healthy lesser prairie-chicken population, a private, 
voluntary conservation effort, known as the range-wide plan, was 
developed and implemented in 2013. At the time, the Fish and Wildlife 
Service declared that the voluntary conservation efforts being 
undertaken to be an unprecedented collaborative effort that produced a 
sound conservation plan for the lesser prairie-chicken.
  As part of the range-wide plan, voluntary conservation agreements 
were formed that allow private landowners and businesses who operate on 
Federal lands to implement voluntary measures to conserve habitat. 
These programs have proven to be successful with private industry 
investing $65 million into species conservation and nearly 6 million 
acres of habitat conserved for the lesser prairie-chicken.
  These investments have produced results. They have resulted in 
population growth from less than 20,000 birds in 2013 to more than 
35,000 birds in 2020. However, the listing puts all of the volunteer 
conservation efforts to date in jeopardy.
  The unavoidable truth about the ESA is that a listing means less 
private investment which harms conservation efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, some people might ask why is it so important that we 
talk about the lesser prairie-chicken on the House floor?
  Some people might say: Why on Earth would the Fish and Wildlife 
Service move a species from threatened to endangered that went from 
20,000 to 35,000 in its population in less than 10 years because of 
conservation efforts?
  What would inspire the Fish and Wildlife Service to do such a thing?
  Mr. Speaker, you would think that if a species were increasing, they 
wouldn't go from threatened to endangered, they would go the other way. 
However, I think this map behind me tells the motivation behind the 
Biden administration and the motivation behind this U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service to make the lesser prairie-chicken not threatened but 
endangered.
  Mr. Speaker, you see the two ranges here, the northern range where 
they would remain threatened and the southern range where they would be 
listed as endangered.
  So what is so unique about these areas?
  It happens to be where the largest production of oil and gas in 
America is located. The area that this Fish and Wildlife Service 
decided to make the lesser prairie-chicken endangered is in the Permian 
Basin--not just the Permian Basin, but the Delaware Basin and the 
Permian Basin. It is the richest deposit of oil in our country.
  So this is just a tool for the Fish and Wildlife Service to go 
implement the Biden administration's none-of-the-above energy policy, 
except their handpicked energy policies, and it is another attack on 
low-cost energy for the American taxpayer. It is an attack on jobs in 
America, and at the same time it is weakening our national security. It 
is making us more dependent on member countries of OPEC, on Russia, and 
on OPEC+, like Venezuela, all because this administration is using 
every tool in the tool pouch to stop oil and gas and low-cost energy 
and safe energy production on U.S. lands and waters.
  We just had a hearing this morning in the Natural Resources Committee 
about how BOEM has delayed the 5-year plan in the Gulf of Mexico and 
the earliest we could get a new sale in the Gulf of Mexico is 2026. 
That is the result of this Biden administration energy policy.
  The ESA should be about protecting endangered species and about 
restoring habitat for endangered species. It shouldn't be something 
used that is going to attack the very heart of our economy and our 
energy production, that is going to harm our national security, and 
that at the end of the day it is just going to make prices higher for 
Americans.
  That is why it is important to talk about something like the lesser 
prairie-chicken on the House floor because this administration made a 
rule--Congress didn't make a rule--this administration made a rule that 
said they are going to list the species as endangered that has shown 
dramatic increases in population.

  Voluntary conservation is working, and this listing puts that at 
risk. That is why repealing the Biden administration's listing of the 
prairie-chicken is crucial.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to this resolution. There 
was a lot I could say and thought about saying about this resolution 
and the one that we will see after it. I could talk about

[[Page H4045]]

how badly these two measures undermine conservation efforts for species 
that are endangered and threatened across our Nation and across the 
globe.
  I could talk about how these resolutions give industry and not 
science the upper hand in making decisions about our endangered 
species.
  I could talk about how this latest offering from team extreme takes 
the GOP's vendetta against the Endangered Species Act to a level that 
should offend us all.
  Nevertheless, as I thought about it, I realized that what is more 
offensive than these resolutions themselves is the fact that these 
resolutions are on the floor right now today.
  We are about to leave the House for 6 weeks. By the time we come 
back, summer will be nearly over. If the current temperatures stay on 
track, it will have been one of the most brutal summers in this 
country's recorded history.
  In my home State of Arizona, Phoenix has now broken records with what 
is now a 27-day streak of more than 110-degree heat. In Florida, the 
ocean heat wave has warmed the waters to 5 to 7 degrees above normal. 
That level of heat is a disaster for corals, marine life, and all the 
local businesses and economies that depend on them.
  Tragically, last month a heat wave in Texas was so oppressive it 
claimed 13 lives. That also happened to be the same month that was 
awarded the grim honor of being the hottest June ever on record. July 
isn't looking any different.
  Climate change isn't about some distant warning about melting ice 
caps in the far-off future. The climate crisis is here. It is now. 
People are suffering, and people are dying, and the GOP isn't doing 
anything about it.
  This year, in the Natural Resources Committee, the Republican 
majority has had zero hearings on climate change. They have introduced 
zero bills to seriously address climate change. They have introduced 
zero bills to help communities being hurt by climate change, and they 
have accepted zero Democratic amendments to include climate change in 
any of their legislation.
  Today, Republicans have decided that the most important thing they 
could do before we leave for 6 weeks would be a couple of resolutions 
to kill off the lesser prairie-chicken and the northern long-eared bat.
  We are about to go back to our districts where our constituents will 
have questions about what we are doing to protect their homes, their 
businesses, and their livelihoods from the increasing threat of climate 
change.
  I have to wonder if my Republican colleagues think that bullying 
chickens and bats would be a sufficient answer. I don't agree, and I am 
certain our constituents won't agree either.
  Fortunately for Democrats, we can assure our constituents that we 
passed the country's biggest ever investment in climate and clean 
energy through the Inflation Reduction Act last year and that the Biden 
administration is working to get that funding out the door as quickly 
and as equitably as possible against ongoing efforts in appropriations 
to defund those initiatives and to dismantle, as we see today, existing 
environmental protections.
  Unfortunately, the Big Gas and Big Oil industry in this country is 
making Americans more and more dependent on fossil fuels as their 
source of energy and thus increasing the climate crisis that we are 
experiencing now.
  Common sense says that the new party in charge of the House would 
want to keep that historic momentum going, but sometimes common sense 
ain't that common.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution. 
I urge my Republican colleagues to come back in September with a better 
plan to help the American people than a couple of go-nowhere 
resolutions that beat up on bats and chickens, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I would say the only science that went 
into this decision by Fish and Wildlife was political science. It is 
all about this administration's attack on American energy.
  People all around the world are going to die as a result of food 
shortages from this administration's attack on natural gas. Natural gas 
is the main ingredient in fertilizer, and fertilizer is the main 
ingredient in agriculture.
  These are serious problems that have huge impacts to society. That is 
why it is important that we push back on these ridiculous rules that 
the administration makes.
  Do you think we enjoy coming out on the House floor and speaking 
about prairie-chickens and bats?
  Not necessarily, but when an administration uses that for a weapon 
against the energy production in this country, then somebody has to 
speak out against it and has to speak out for the rural communities and 
the workers across this country.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. DUARTE. Mr. Speaker, today, I stand before you to express my 
support for S.J. Res. 9. My colleagues and I have deep concerns about 
the harms of listing the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered 
Species Act. While the intent of this act is to protect vulnerable 
species, we must carefully consider the consequences of such a 
decision.
  Listing the lesser prairie-chicken as endangered will have far-
reaching negative impacts on rural communities, working families, and 
conservation efforts, all while ignoring the best available science.
  First and foremost, this action will place more red tape on farmers, 
ranchers, and small businesses, leading to more Federal control and 
less personal freedom. Rural America already faces significant 
challenges, and more Federal red tape will only limit job growth and 
crush rural communities.
  Furthermore, listing the lesser prairie-chicken might not guarantee 
its recovery. The Endangered Species Act's track record has shown 
limited success in saving species from extinction, often requiring 
substantial amounts of taxpayer dollars and enormous economic impacts 
with minimal positive outcomes.
  Instead, we should prioritize cooperative conservation efforts that 
involve collaboration between private landowners and government 
agencies to ensure a more holistic, sustainable approach.
  Listing the lesser prairie-chicken will divert attention and 
resources away from other critical conservation priorities. We need a 
comprehensive strategy that addresses broader ecological challenges and 
the conservation of multiple species, not just focusing on a single 
one.
  Let us not rush into listing the lesser prairie-chicken without 
carefully evaluating the potential harms and exploring alternative 
conservation measures. Effective conservation requires a balanced 
approach that protects both our natural heritage and the livelihoods of 
working families throughout rural America.
  Together, we can find innovative solutions to preserve the species 
while promoting responsible economic growth and safeguarding our 
environment for generations to come.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, again, this move by Fish and Wildlife is 
actually going to hurt the population of the lesser prairie-chicken 
because it is going to disincentivize private investment that is shown 
to work.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Jackson).
  Mr. JACKSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support S.J. Res. 9, 
which disapproves of the disastrous rule submitted by the Biden 
administration to re-list the lesser prairie-chicken under the 
Endangered Species Act.
  This is another example of the Biden administration's blatant 
disregard for rural America in order to push Green New Deal initiatives 
and appease the radical environmentalists.
  For nearly a decade, the lesser prairie-chicken population has been 
on the rebound due to voluntary conservation efforts of farmers and 
ranchers in the Texas panhandle. This new rule disregards these efforts 
and empowers bureaucrats, who have no local knowledge of farming or 
ranching, to micromanage the grazing plans of responsible landowners in 
my district.
  This listing is a shortsighted effort that will have little benefit 
in increasing the lesser prairie-chicken population but will have a 
devastating effect on my district, our Nation's energy production, and 
the agricultural industry as a whole.

[[Page H4046]]

  Make no mistake, this effort by the Biden administration is about 
destroying the agriculture industry and the livelihoods of those who 
depend on it.
  It is time we stopped this destructive overreach by the Federal 
Government and protect our farmers and ranchers.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, during the markup of this particular bill, the chair of 
the Natural Resources Committee agreed with the Democrats that these 
CRA resolutions are extreme. He said:

       The CRA process is an extreme process because it does take 
     that ability away from a Federal agency, and if we enact this 
     resolution, the agency can't take those steps again.

  That was repeated right now by my colleague who spoke.
  I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are taking 
this extreme step what their plan is. When the lesser prairie-chicken 
or the northern long-eared bat slips closer to extinction, what is the 
backup?
  There is no backup. The CRA is permanent, and extinction then becomes 
the only avenue and the only probability.
  Mr. Speaker, I suggest that 99 percent of the species that have been 
listed on the Endangered Species Act continue to exist. That is the 
track record that should be highlighted, and that is the track record, 
on this 50-year anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, that we 
should all be proud of.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, when an administration takes bad actions, 
then Congress has to take extreme measures to pull back the power that 
has been granted to the administration.
  I gladly stand behind the statement that it is time for Congress to 
reel back that power that the administration is abusing.
  It is not just me saying that. It is also a Democrat-controlled 
Senate that sent this bill to the House with Democrat votes in the 
Senate.
  We need to put it on President Biden's desk and let him answer to the 
American people on what he is going to do about truly protecting 
endangered species and what he is going to do about energy production 
in America.
  Speaking of energy production in America and agriculture in America, 
I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), who knows 
a lot about both.
  Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. I thank 
my fellow chairman and my fellow Member from the adjoining State of 
Arkansas for yielding time to me to speak on this important piece of 
legislation.
  Oklahomans and those who call the West home are proud 
conservationists and great stewards of our land. Sustainable, healthy 
land is the lifeblood of our rural communities, and no one understands 
that better than the farmers, ranchers, and landowners themselves.
  When we work with and not against producers, we have seen the 
impossible accomplished. For years, landowners have partnered with 
local and State government and industry to increase the production of 
energy and agricultural goods. They were able to do this all while 
improving soil health and wildlife habitats, creating an environment 
and an economy that is beneficial to both wildlife and the residents of 
rural America.
  My father used to say there is a fine line between doing something 
for people and doing something to people. Let me be clear: Listing the 
lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act is government 
doing something to people, not for them.
  This listing creates unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on 
Oklahoma's agriculture and oil and gas industries and limits our 
ability as a country to provide for ourselves and the world. That is 
why I support this resolution before us today.
  This resolution ensures that U.S. Fish and Wildlife regulations do 
not infringe on the property owners who live and work their land every 
day.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, oil and gas companies raked in record profits last year, 
but it appears that House Republicans aren't done trying to give them 
handout after handout.
  This week, they are trying to give them a free pass to avoid 
conserving the lesser prairie-chicken and the Endangered Species Act in 
and of itself.
  H.R. 1, their top priority, the polluters over people act, lays out a 
blueprint on exactly how to reward the industry, how to make those 
handouts permanent, how to undermine and dismantle protections and laws 
that have been put in place for 50-plus years in reaction to the need 
to conserve species and, more importantly, to protect the American 
people and their health.
  Going forward, we have to understand that while these two resolutions 
we are dealing with today are part of it, there is a bigger agenda, a 
bigger blueprint, that talks about turning over the public policy and 
legislative arm of Congress to the oil and gas companies, to the big 
corporate interests that are raking in profits, ensuring that we 
continue to be dependent on their source of energy and not develop the 
renewable and clean energy the American people need and want and that 
is cheaper and will create jobs. That is what is on the agenda, as 
well.
  As we debate these two particular resolutions, let's not forget or 
ignore the underlying reality of what we are talking about in terms of 
energy policy, period, in this country.
  Let's not forget that, during the hostage taking on the debt ceiling, 
the principal point and the principal attack was against those 
fundamental environmental laws, again moving us in a direction that 
increases dependence on polluting industries and lessens our ability to 
respond to what the American people need, and that is a safe, secure 
environment for themselves and their families.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Mann).
  Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the chairman from Arkansas, 
for his leadership on this effort and for the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the importance of this 
resolution, which pushes back on unnecessary and burdensome regulation 
that threatens the livelihoods of people throughout rural America. I 
introduced the House version earlier this year, and I am proud to see 
the Senate version passed the Senate earlier, and we are finally now 
coming to the House today.
  The designation of the lesser prairie-chicken as ``threatened'' in 
places like Kansas is unacceptable, and this rule should have no force 
or effect until Congress is consulted.
  Farmers, ranchers, and agriculture producers are American heroes. 
They are the backbone of America, and they are working tirelessly every 
day to keep us all fed while dealing with the burdens of inflation, 
drought, and market fluctuations. The last thing they need is the 
Federal Government handcuffing them with senseless red tape.
  One southwest Kansas rancher recently told me that he spotted a 
lesser prairie-chicken on one of his pastures where his cattle were 
grazing. He did the right thing and reported that, and then he had to 
move all the cattle from not only that pasture but the adjoining 
pastures adjacent to it, just because U.S. Fish and Wildlife recorded 
that bird.
  The truth is, Kansas producers have voluntarily conserved more than 
40,000 acres of habitat for the lesser prairie-chicken through both 
private investment and conservation programs at the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture. The population of the lesser prairie-chicken rises and 
falls with rainfall, not the normal activity of farmers and ranchers.
  Last year, we were in a historic drought throughout the Great Plains. 
It is obviously affecting the lesser prairie-chicken population and 
also the wheat harvest, which was devastatingly small this year.
  Big Government doesn't need to step in and force farmers and ranchers 
to upend their operations for the sake of this bird, whose population 
is predicted to bounce back on its own with rainfall as it did in 2016 
after another devastating drought in 2013.

  Make no mistake, the lesser prairie-chicken is being used as a proxy 
in the administration's war on fossil fuel and production agriculture.

[[Page H4047]]

  With this vote today, we can either stand for Big Government 
overregulation that puts producers out of business, or we can stand 
with producers' rights to private property and self-determination.
  Mr. Speaker, I know where I stand, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this resolution.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, 1 million species globally are at risk of 
extinction, and one of the main drivers is climate change. Let's stop 
picking on these species and instead start addressing the real issue of 
climate change.
  E.O. Wilson, the father of modern biodiversity, estimated the world 
is losing three species per hour. We have a biodiversity crisis on our 
hands, and we have a climate crisis on our hands, but House Republicans 
decided this week is a good time to legislate the extinction of a 
couple of species.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Beyer), my good friend.
  Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I stand in steadfast opposition to both S.J. 
Res. 9 and S.J. Res. 24. These resolutions represent a deeply 
concerning, misguided attempt to undermine the Endangered Species Act. 
These partisan resolutions are also out of step with what Americans 
care about.
  Our constituents are looking for us to lead, to take action to 
restore a healthy, biodiverse, and climate-stable planet. We took 
important actions in the last Congress, and we are seeing the results 
now--funding for cities like Alexandria to transition to electric 
schoolbuses that are healthier for kids, creating jobs for climate-
ready coasts so these communities are resilient to extreme weather, new 
clean energy manufacturing so that people have jobs and healthier 
workspaces for a healthier planet for us all.
  These resolutions are part of an agenda that puts polluters over 
people. Americans don't want to see politicians interfering to reverse 
science-based endangered species protections, cementing a species' path 
to extinction, just like they don't want to see us cementing the 
country on a path of more fossil fuel pollution, causing extreme 
weather and the overheating that is destroying the country right now.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle spent 2 years shouting 
about things like inflation and public safety, but now, in power, they 
are heading into a 6-week recess focused on stripping protections from 
bats and lesser prairie-chickens.
  How does this help inflation? How does it help make people safer? It 
doesn't.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to see that these resolutions are 
misguided, even silly, and vote ``no.''

                              {time}  1245

  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let's talk about inflation a little bit. My colleagues 
across the aisle want to talk about inflation. They know a lot about it 
because they passed laws that put inflation on a steady increase here 
in our country.
  This so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which around D.C. is called 
the Green New Deal, put money into the economy to push their agenda 
that has caused prices to increase across the country. Now the 
administration is doing things like listing species that shouldn't be 
listed so they can attack American energy even more and drive up 
inflation even more.
  America needs energy. The world needs energy. Attacking domestic 
energy doesn't mean that the demand for energy is going away. It just 
means somebody else in the world is going to produce it.
  Through their great idea of the Inflation Reduction Act to build a 
lot of windmills and solar farms, they are now taking American wealth 
and exporting it to China so we can buy those solar panels and 
windmills and the components.
  China has hoarded the world's resources on minerals and rare earth 
elements which go into all of this technology. We have that here in 
America, but it is a not-in-my-backyard policy that my friends across 
the aisle want to implement. They turn a blind eye to what goes on in 
the rest of the world that affects the climate and want to put all of 
the burden on America and on American taxpayers when America is leading 
the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Arrington), who knows just how devastating rules like this can be to 
the fine people that he represents in west Texas.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Biden 
administration's listing of the lesser prairie-chicken, and I rise in 
support of the prairie people in rural America who provide the food, 
fuel, and fiber for this great Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't have the luxury of energy independence or 
food security if it wasn't for the hardworking, God-fearing, freedom-
loving people in rural America. This CRA would put some common sense 
into this matter of conserving our natural resources.
  By the way, no one conserves natural resources better than those who 
make a living off of the natural resources, so our ag and energy 
producers are our best stewards. As such, when they did their voluntary 
public-private partnership program of conservation for the lesser 
prairie-chicken, the lesser prairie-chicken increased 50 percent.
  It is actually hard to even say this without laughing because we are 
talking about the lesser prairie-chicken, which has expanded under 
their voluntary efforts, and we are talking about a threat to American 
energy independence.
  This isn't about the lesser prairie-chicken. This is about political 
chickens who pander to the left's extreme climate agenda. As a result, 
we are compromising not only our economic strength and our national 
security but America's leadership in the world. This is insane.
  By the way, examples of this abound. It is not just the prairie-
chicken. It is canceling pipelines, a moratorium on oil and gas leases 
on public lands, the signing of the Paris climate agreement, giving 
China and Russia a pass, delaying 4,800 drilling permits, depleting the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and other more covert actions by the SEC 
and the ESG that run amok throughout every appendage of this Federal 
Government because it is a whole-of-government assault on the oil and 
gas industry, our fossil fuels, and our energy producers who have 
blessed this great Nation of ours.
  My God, I cannot believe that we are having this debate, Mr. Speaker, 
but I appeal to the common sense of my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to do what is best for our country and not put the lesser 
prairie-chicken over the prairie people who bless this great land.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, with regard to rural America and the important role that 
they play in this great Nation of ours, I am patiently waiting with, I 
hope, good expectations that if the agriculture appropriations bill 
ever gets done that it will reflect that commitment to rural America, 
that electric co-ops will continue to function, that nutrition will 
continue to be important in this America, that women and children will 
receive the nutrition that they need, and that the loan program for 
rural America's small farmers continues to be intact. Let's see. 
Sometimes pronouncements that are not followed with action are just 
that, political banter.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Estes), who lives right in the heart of lesser prairie-
chicken country.
  Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Kansas farmers, 
ranchers, and energy producers who take it upon themselves to conserve 
the land and vulnerable species in rural Kansas each and every day.
  In recent months, these Kansans have felt the Biden administration's 
massive overreach as D.C. bureaucrats use the Federal Government to 
overregulate hardworking Americans a thousand miles from the swamp.
  In 2015, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lesser prairie-
chicken as endangered, only to delist it a year later as their analysis 
was flawed. Despite losing a court case and seeing an actual increase 
in the lesser prairie-chicken population, they are now classified as 
threatened and endangered in

[[Page H4048]]

two distinct population segments in the United States.
  Kansas farmers, ranchers, and energy producers, those closer to the 
lesser prairie-chicken habitat, are excellent stewards of natural 
resources. They have repeatedly demonstrated responsible actions as 
they tend the land that feeds and fuels the world. What they don't need 
is a heavy-handed government approach to land management, especially 
when those mandates are unfounded and not based on actual science.

  Today, we can correct this mistaken classification with a 
Congressional Review Act. Even in a divided Senate, the CRA resolution 
passed with bipartisan support.
  Successful, voluntary, public-private conservation practices have 
prompted the lesser prairie-chicken population to nearly double through 
2021, with a statistically insignificant decrease between 2021 and 
2022. Federal and State governments have spent millions of dollars to 
determine the population is stable, yet the Biden administration is 
engaging in insidious actions like creating the north and south regions 
to help prop up their narrative that the lesser prairie-chicken 
population was declining.
  While it may seem extreme to squawk about a single species, it is 
representative of the tone of the Biden administration--force 
unworkable mandates on hardworking Kansans to appease bureaucrats and 
elitists who aren't impacted by their decisions. They have used this 
playbook before, and this encroachment on private property rights will 
be replicated in State after State across the country.
  Today, as we vote on this Congressional Review Act, it is critical 
that we hold the line and prevent the Biden administration from 
pursuing this hostile land grab. Kansas agriculture and energy 
producers are doing their part, and millions of taxpayer dollars have 
confirmed that the current conservation plan is working.
  Mr. Speaker, this humble bird has benefited through Kansans' 
voluntarily conserving its habitat, and today we have an opportunity to 
put an end to the Biden administration's attack on rural Americans 
through this commonsense CRA.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that this resolution and the 
other resolution to follow will be the last items, as was predicted, 
that this Congress does before it goes on recess for 6 weeks.
  The agriculture appropriations legislation is not done yet, and so 
rural America can hold its breath until the Republican majority 
satisfies an extreme agenda on the part of their Members, and we all 
wait.
  However, we are going to vote on these two resolutions, resolutions 
that are not necessary, minor, almost petty, while the American people 
wait for some real solutions and some real actions on the part of the 
Republican majority.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time and 
am prepared to close. I continue to reserve.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close. To be clear, I agree that the lesser prairie-chicken is 
important. All threatened and endangered species are important. We are 
in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, as we speak.
  What I find patently unimportant is this resolution that doesn't 
respect the science, doesn't respect our imperative to protect 
biodiversity and slow down climate change, and certainly doesn't 
respect the important things that the American people have sent us here 
to do that are not being done.
  This resolution is a polluter-requested, partisan attack that my 
Republican colleagues seem to be able to defend only with opinions, 
anecdotes, and industry talking points. I will remind us all; it will 
go nowhere. Good policy is not built solely on opinions. It is built on 
science, facts, and the needs of the American people.
  The fact is that climate change, not the chicken, is killing 
Americans and costing us hundreds of billions of dollars each year. I 
urge my colleagues to oppose S.J. Res. 9.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. 
Republicans care about the environment. The word ``conservation'' is 
derived from the word ``conservative,'' and a true conservative is one 
who is a good steward of the environment and takes care of what we have 
got so it will be better in the future.
  This rule by the Fish and Wildlife Service listing the lesser 
prairie-chicken is not about conservation. It is about moving a 
political agenda.
  I had the great opportunity to study forestry at--Yale School of the 
Environment, as it is now called--Yale Forest School. There was 
somebody who went through that program decades before I did. His name 
was Aldo Leopold. He is quoted probably as often as anybody in the 
world of conservation. One of my favorite quotes of his is: ``There are 
two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of 
supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that 
heat comes from the furnace.''
  How applicable that is today in the world that we live in where you 
have got an urban America that doesn't realize what rural America 
provides for the rest of the country. They really think food comes from 
the grocery store and energy comes from the plug-in or heat comes from 
the furnace without giving any thought to where that comes from.
  When you keep attacking the very people who are providing the food 
and the energy for this country, some day you are going to go to the 
grocery store and there is not going to be food there. You are going to 
try to flip on the light switch, and the lights aren't going to come 
on. You are going to be in a cold winter, and there is not going to be 
heat. Ask people in Europe who got dependent on Russia for their energy 
about what it means to have energy shortages. This is serious business.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to think about the American farmer 
and rancher and the oil and gas worker who are living in this species' 
range. They are people who wake up before dawn and go to bed late at 
night, working to provide food and energy for the American people, who 
have likely made substantial investments to modify their operations to 
benefit the lesser prairie-chicken and has contributed to the 
successful recovery of the species; somebody who does the right thing--
they do it day in and day out--yet the Federal Government comes in and 
says: That is not good enough.

  To the extremist environmental community, it does not matter that the 
lesser prairie-chicken numbers are increasing and millions of acres and 
hard-earned dollars have been voluntarily contributed toward benefiting 
the species. They pay no mind to the conservation efforts of these 
hardworking men and women. Instead, they seek to wield the ESA as a 
hammer to separate the people from the land and their way of life.
  The ESA hammer has come down, and flexibility is gone. That is both 
unfair and unjust, and at the end of the day, it is going to hurt the 
very people who are pushing these rules, who think, again, that 
breakfast comes from the grocery and heat comes from the furnace. They 
are putting so many burdens on the men and women of this country who 
provide those things. These are the men and women who didn't work from 
home during COVID. They went to their job every day so that the world 
could keep going around, yet they are highly unappreciated and are 
attacked every day in this country.
  This bipartisan CRA, which again was passed by the Senate and sent 
here, will put an end to the Biden administration's unjust listing 
decision. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution and return 
sanity to the ESA decisionmaking process.
  Let's make the ESA something that is really about restoring habitat 
and helping endangered species, not using animals as a tool to move 
political agendas.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage support of the CRA, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in opposition to S.J. 
Res. 9, a resolution that provides for congressional disapproval to 
legislatively de-list the lesser prairie-chicken from protection under 
the Endangered Species Act.

[[Page H4049]]

  Specifically, this bill calls on Congress to disapprove the rules 
submitted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service relating to 
protections for endangered and threatened wildlife and plants.
  The population and habitat of the lesser prairie-chicken, an 
endangered southwestern prairie grouse, is under growing threat.
  Originally numbering in the millions, the population of this bird has 
decreased by as much as 97 percent and it now only inhabits 16 percent 
of its former habitat.
  Aerial survey results from 2012 through 2022 estimate a five-year 
average lesser prairie-chicken population of 32,210 across the five-
state region in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, as well as my 
state of Texas.
  The conversion of natural grasslands to agriculture, energy 
development, fire suppression, drought, and the use of herbicides to 
kill Shinnery Oak habitat are all ongoing challenges that cause habitat 
loss and fragmentation.
  Additional harm is caused to these birds' habitats by fencing, power 
wires, and other tall structures that entice perching by predatory 
animals.
  The lesser prairie-chicken is a sign of healthy prairies and 
grasslands because it requires huge, undamaged natural grassland 
parcels to support self-sustaining populations.
  This makes them a crucial indicator of the general wellbeing of 
America's grasslands, a treasured and iconic terrain.
  It is essential that we work together to uphold the Endangered 
Species Act (ESA), which is responsible for the recovery of iconic 
species like the Bald Eagle.
  I urge my colleagues to support science-based decisions and join me 
in opposing this bill, S.J. Res. 9.

                              {time}  1300

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kustoff). All time for debate has 
expired.
  Pursuant to the rule, the previous question is ordered on the joint 
resolution.
  The question is on the third reading of the joint resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be read a third time, and was 
read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the joint 
resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

                          ____________________