[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.
____________________