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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today as chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife to express my strong disapproval of Republican efforts to undermine the integrity and authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Now, around the world, scientists tell us that 1 million species face extinction, including 40 percent of animals in the United States. This is nothing short of a biodiversity crisis, one that will have dire impacts on the ecosystems around us and the clean air and clean water that we need to survive.

Yet, last week, for the second and the third time in just 2 weeks, Republicans passed a Congressional Review Act resolution to constrain the Fish and Wildlife Service and their ability to protect our planet.

Three times now we have had to stop all other business of the Senate and devote valuable floor time that we could have used to pass legislation to confirm or promote military leaders and otherwise do the people's business. Instead, we had to stop to debate the merits of protecting threatened and endangered species from extinction. That is not a joke--for the folks watching at home--and this is not an exaggeration either.

Let's review. It was a half a century ago that Congress acknowledged the reality of habitat destruction and the threats to America's unique biodiversity. And, yes, Congress gave the Fish and Wildlife Service the power to administer a process for designating and protecting newly endangered species. Congress intentionally and purposefully handed the power over to experts in habitat loss and wildlife biologists--who are actually educated and trained--to determine which species are most at risk and what we need to do to protect them.

It is no different than how we regulate prescription drugs, for example. We rely on the FDA and their experts and their scientists to protect the American people rather than trying to individually legislate every single medication. Imagine trying to legislate every single medication in this body.

So the real effect of these CRAs is to set a precedent for personal grievances and for the folks who deny the science and prefer gridlock to prevail. Passage of these CRAs is the equivalent of saying that, whenever a powerful industry or a lone Member of Congress dislikes a rule that scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service issue in the future, they are entitled to a vote to second-guess and overturn the actual experts.

I may be wrong, but I am not aware of any wildlife biologists currently serving in this Senate. At a time when more and more wildlife species are at risk of extinction, we can't constrain the ability of the Fish and Wildlife Service from following the science and issuing rules to protect them or, in the case of the critical habitat designation CRA, my colleagues are blatantly ignoring the realities of climate change and limiting our Nation's ability to react and respond in the years ahead.

I suggest that, rather than grinding Congress to a halt, those of us who voted to follow the process that Congress itself created is the responsible way to allow the scientists and experts to do their job. Rather than ignore the science of the climate crisis, I voted to live up to the responsibilities that we have as stewards of this great land.

And while this last week Senate Republicans got their way, I am proud to have a President in the White House who takes seriously our sacred responsibility to our planet and who refuses to overrule the experts and the scientists. But I also know that this is not the end of the CRAs and that our Republican colleagues will attempt to overrule the Fish and Wildlife Service and choose to put their personal grievances over progress in Congress.

So when that day comes again--because there will be future attempts-- I will proudly, once again, stand with the experts and vote no.

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