The Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, today, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 9, providing for congressional disapproval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rule regarding the lesser prairie-chicken under the Congressional Review Act.
Since I was 10 years old, my family has enjoyed hunting prairie chickens. As a matter of fact, the first bird I ever shot, the first time I ever went hunting, 10 years of age with a 20-gauge single shotgun, I was able to down one of these beautiful birds.
But last November, the Fish and Wildlife Service ignored decades of voluntary conservation efforts and published a rule lifting the lesser prairie-chicken species as endangered and threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Enacted in 1973, the Endangered Species Act, the ESA, was created to protect species believed to be on the brink of extinction. Today, the consequences of this law reach far beyond its original intent. If saving species were the only consideration, then this administration wouldn't be listing the lesser prairie-chicken whose population is considered stable in my home State of Kansas.
I ask you, was the ESA made for the good of human kind or was human kind made for the good of the ESA?
Make no mistake about it, the listing of any species adds more rules, more hoops to jump through, more time and costs from everyone, from our farmers and ranchers, our oilfield workers, and our utility linemen who are building out new power poles and electric lines to get wind- generated electricity out to more populated States.
The ESA is just another weaponized tool that this President uses to attack rural America. This move is not surprising, considering the President recently vetoed the bipartisan resolution to strike down the WOTUS rule. This White House continues to push policies and resurrect taxes that disproportionately hurt rural America.
For over 20 years now, Federal, State, and private landowners have voluntarily collaborated with Fish and Wildlife Services to conserve the lesser prairie-chicken and its habitat.
These partnerships have already resulted in conservation agreements covering roughly 15 million acres of potential habitat for species. To list the bird now, after all the conservation effort, sends a message to stakeholders that no matter how much good work you do, the hammer will still fall, the heavy-handed government will still step in and list species under the ESA and attempt to regulate your industry out of existence, all in the name of climate.
The Federal Government thinks it knows best when it comes to conservation, but this law continues to fail its most basic mission: recovering and delisting species. Despite billions of dollars spent in the name of the ESA, less than 2 percent of all listed species have been removed from its ESA protection since 1973--just 2 percent.
Through a combination of public and private efforts, the lesser prairie-chicken is better protected now more than ever. Listing them as threatened or endangered will not provide any additional conservation benefits above what already exists.
As this chart shows, while the prairie chicken numbers tend to follow rainfall, they have been growing since the Obama administration first attempted to list the bird in 2014.
No one in this body wants to see this beautiful bird go extinct. As a matter of fact, we are fighting to preserve it. My hope is that one day, once again, my grandchildren can hunt lesser prairie-chickens like their great-great-grandfathers did.
No oil producer, no rancher, no farmer, no wind energy producer wants the demise of the lesser prairie-chicken. That is why voluntary partnerships have worked and are working. Just like all my fellow Kansans, I am committed to saving our environment for future generations.
To share some wise words from one of my friends:
We are passengers on this planet, not captains.
We need to continue to work with Mother Nature, not punish hard- working Americans. A listing of this species now will only slow down and drive up the cost of our wind energy exports from Kansas, which shares many of the same range. The listing will also push oil and gas development to countries that have long track records of violating human rights or the extraction of these important and necessary energy sources in a manner much more harmful to the environment than those utilized by American producers.
Whether it is gas or diesel or wind energy, this decision to list the chicken would increase the cost of energy. It would federalize millions of acres of ranch lands and expand the regulatory burden on our farmers and ranchers, ultimately, increasing the cost of food. But for what? An attempt to protect the species by an Agency that has only successfully recovered 2 percent of the species that it has listed.
No, thanks. The local communities have and will continue to do what is best for the bird and, more importantly, for the environment through ongoing, proven conservation efforts--conservation efforts passed on from one generation of farmers and ranchers to the next.
This administration ignores the impact that overregulation has on American industries. And I hear this from everyone who visits my office. The costs of this administration's rules and regulations already outpace the last two administrations combined, with $363 billion in rules so far. Since January 1 of this year alone, that number is $148 billion.
Under this administration, the annual paperwork burden on businesses has increased to over 220 million hours. Since January 1, that number is approaching 50 million hours--indeed, a redtape of nightmare for businesses.
This resolution is one of many vital steps the Senate GOP is taking to unleash the economy from the bureaucratic harassment that the White House has deployed. I am asking you to join me in applauding, rather than punishing, voluntary conservation efforts and support the joint resolution for congressional disapproval of the lesser prairie-chicken listing.
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