Including California in Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003

Floor Speech

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

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3399

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. NUTRIA ERADICATION.

The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-16) is amended--

(1) in section 2--

(A) in subsection (a)--

(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Wetlands and tidal marshes of the Chesapeake Bay and in Louisiana'' and inserting ``Wetlands, tidal marshes, and agricultural lands'';

(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``in Maryland and Louisiana''; and

(iii) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:

``(3) Traditional harvest methods to control or eradicate nutria have failed. Consequently, marsh loss, loss of public and private wetlands, and loss of agricultural lands are accelerating.''; and

(B) in subsection (b), by striking ``the State of Maryland and the State of Louisiana'' and inserting ``any State that has demonstrated the need''; and

(2) in section 3--

(A) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

``(a) Grant Authority.--The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this Act as the `Secretary'), may provide financial assistance to a State, in an amount that is in proportion to the total impacted area of such State affected by nutria, that has demonstrated to the Secretary sufficient need for a program to implement measures to eradicate or control nutria and restore marshland, public and private wetlands, and agricultural lands damaged by nutria.'';

(B) by striking subsection (b);

(C) in subsection (d)--

(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``the program may'' and inserting ``a State program referred to in subsection (a) may''; and

(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the program may'' and inserting ``a State program referred to in subsection (a) may'';

(D) in subsection (e), by inserting ``to a State'' after ``provided'';

(E) in subsection (f), by striking ``$4,000,000'' and all that follows and inserting ``$12,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.''; and

(F) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) as subsections (b) through (e).

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 3399, the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003.

In case you were not lucky enough to see the stuffed nutria that the distinguished gentleman from California brought to our hearing in the Natural Resources Committee, you are in luck, because I understand that it is making another appearance here today on the floor.

You can see firsthand that nutria are a large, invasive rodent species that have infested and damaged wetlands across the United States.

This species was originally introduced to the United States in 1899 for fur production, but its rapid breeding and destructive burrowing became a huge problem in areas like the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2003, by way of background, Congress passed the Nutria Eradication and Control Act to provide assistance to Maryland and Louisiana to eradicate or control nutria and to restore wetlands destroyed by nutria. According to some estimates, if these measures had not been adopted, nutria could have destroyed 17 percent of the Chesapeake Bay's marshes in a 50-year period.

While this program has been successful in Maryland and Louisiana, now the nutria have invaded habitats across the United States.

Representative Harder's much-needed bill would expand the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 to include any State with a nutria infestation issue and make them eligible for funding under the act.

It is important to consider this bill in the context of the state of our wildlife and habitat today. Species are going extinct at a faster rate than ever before in human history. Habitat loss is a major driver of the extinction crisis that we are experiencing, and so protecting and restoring wetlands from invasive species like nutria is an important piece of the puzzle for protecting biodiversity in our country.

In the face of the climate crisis, we must do all we can to protect habitat and wildlife, and eradicating this destructive invasive species is a step in the right direction.

I thank my distinguished colleague from California for his leadership in introducing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Harder) and his nutria, whose name is Nellie.

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I very much enjoyed this fascinating debate, and I appreciate the leadership of our colleague from Louisiana on this issue for many years and, of course, our colleague from California for initiating the bill before the House.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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