[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1731-S1732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, over the past 2 months, we have seen chaos
unleashed across our country as Donald Trump and Elon Musk take a chain
saw to our Federal Government, firing thousands of Federal workers en
masse with no explanation and more firings to come. I suspect that by
the time they are through--if they are ever through--hundreds of
thousands of Federal employees will have been fired.
Rather than making government more efficient, these indiscriminate
cuts are gutting our government from the inside out, effectively
eliminating crucial programs and offices.
While Republicans shamefully paint hard-working Federal workers as
faceless bureaucrats, we know that our Federal workers do important
work, from ensuring Social Security checks go out to providing care for
veterans and so much more.
Every State has individual Federal employees doing critical work--
often work that goes unseen. In Hawaii, for example, Fish and Wildlife
Service employees are responsible for keeping invasive species out of
our State. Once invasive species arrive in our islands, it is often
impossible to eradicate them. That is why the work of these employees
is so important.
Last month, the Trump administration fired Fish and Wildlife Service
employees whose job was to keep one particular invasive species--the
brown tree snake--out of our State. You can see, Mr. President, it is
pretty ferocious. This picture depicts a brown tree snake eating a bird
whole.
Native to Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, the brown tree
snake was accidentally introduced to Guam during World War II and has
been wreaking havoc on that island ever since. One of the most
destructive invasive species in the world, the brown tree snake is
responsible for the extinction of at least a dozen animal species in
Guam, including many of the island's forest-dwelling birds and native
lizards.
But the snake didn't stop at birds and lizards; it also went after
Guam's native bats, domestic poultry, and even pets. As its population
grew, the brown tree snake began invading power facilities, causing
short circuits and frequent power outages. To this day, brown tree
snakes cause nearly 200 outages a year in Guam, costing $4.5 million
each year in repairs and lost productivity. To this day, brown tree
snakes cause nearly 200 outages a year in Guam, costing $4.5 million
each year in what they are doing in repairs--you can imagine what kind
of havoc--and lost productivity by the millions.
Despite years of various attempts to control the brown tree snake, as
of 2024, Guam's population of brown tree snakes is estimated to be in
the millions. Sadly, it is highly unlikely that this invasive and
destructive species will ever be fully eliminated from Guam.
Thankfully, the snake does not yet exist in Hawaii or anywhere in the
continental United States, but that is not by accident or chance. It is
because of
[[Page S1732]]
the tireless work of Federal employees from several Agencies that has
kept this snake out of Hawaii.
Since the creation of the Brown Tree Snake Program nearly 20 years
ago, not a single brown tree snake has been found in Hawaii because the
program works. The Federal investment in equipment, training, and
hiring personnel works. Several Agencies, including the Department of
the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of
Defense work together on the research, interdiction, and management of
the brown tree snake.
But the firing of just one individual who served as the Brown Tree
Snake Program coordinator in Hawaii threatens to nullify all of that
successful work. This individual was responsible for ensuring that
prior security protocols were being followed in coordinating amongst
the different Agencies involved in the program. He has been doing this
for a number of years. He has the expertise to do this well, to keep
this snake out of Hawaii. He oversaw the implementation of the Brown
Tree Snake Program for the entire Pacific region.
As I give this speech today, his position was eliminated for no good
reason by Musk and Trump. To this day, his position remains vacant. As
we know, there is a hiring freeze imposed by the President also. So if
he is not reinstated, the likely scenario will be that it will not be a
matter of if brown tree snakes are introduced to Hawaii, but when.
Let's be clear. If this snake makes it to Hawaii, I fear it is only a
matter of time before it reaches the rest of our country.
Trump and Elon Musk think they can just take a chain saw to our
Federal workforce and budget, hacking away with no consequences. But in
10 years, when brown tree snakes have decimated Hawaii's ecosystem and
wreaked havoc in other States across our country, it will, obviously,
be too late.
Mr. President, the brown tree snake is a real threat that Hawaii
takes seriously. And in every State across our country, red and blue
alike, there are Federal workers doing critical, often unseen work, to
protect the health, safety, and well-being of our communities--critical
Federal employees. Firing these employees will inevitably make our
country and our communities less safe, less prosperous, and more
vulnerable to outside threats from foreign governments to invasive
species, and everything in between.
I stand ready to work with anyone serious about making our government
more efficient, but these cuts are having the opposite effect.
I urge my Republican colleagues to join me in standing up for the
critical Federal programs in our States and to the well-being of the
American people by rejecting this administration's attacks on our
government and the people who keep it working and who protect our
communities.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.