The House of Representatives passed two resolutions Thursday that would override the Fish and Wildlife Service’s rules beefing up protections for two species of animals — setting up a clash with the White House, which threatened to veto the two measures.
In a mostly party-line vote, the House voted to curtail protections for the northern long-eared bat and the lesser prairie chicken, two species that were listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. The measures, brought under the Congressional Review Act, were passed in a 221-206 vote for the lesser prairie chicken, and in a 220–209 vote for the northern long-eared bat.
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The resolutions now head to the White House, where President Joe Biden has threatened to veto the two bills in statements of administration policy.
Policies passed by the FWS last November list the two species as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act — a move that Republicans deemed as a threat to infrastructural development and a sign of government overreach.
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, debated in favor of the disapproval resolution, arguing that the Biden administration’s efforts to list the lesser prairie chicken as “endangered” in certain areas they reside is a threat to oil and gas production, as these areas have proximity to some of the largest oil and gas production sites in the country.
“This is a tool for the Fish and Wildlife to go implement the Biden administration’s none-of-the-above energy policy,” Westerman said during the floor debate. “It’s another attack on low-cost energy for the American taxpayers.”
Westerman also argued against the “endangered” listing of the northern long-eared bat, saying that the species’ existential threat lies with white-nose syndrome — an invasive disease that has killed off millions of bats.
Listing the species as endangered would “increase the bureaucratic red tape critical infrastructure and forest management projects will go through,” Westerman said.
Democrats, on the other hand, criticized the GOP efforts as the chamber heads out for the six-week-long August recess.
“Today, Republicans have decided that the most important thing they could do before we leave for six weeks would be a couple of resolutions to kill off the lesser prairie chicken and the northern long-eared bat,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee.
The push from Republicans comes as the group looks to “modernize” the Endangered Species Act, a 1973 law aimed at protecting and conserving species at risk of extinction. House Republicans formed a working group to address the issue last Tuesday, arguing the law is outdated and stymies agricultural and industrial development.
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Democrats and environmental groups, however, strongly opposed GOP efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act amid what environmentalists have termed an extinction crisis.
