21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Hastings for all of his work on this legislation.

I am from Wisconsin. I have the central to northern part of the State. In my part of the State--and for the State as a whole--we value our natural resources. We value our wildlife. We have people who love to hunt, fish, bike, ski, and hike. It is part of our culture and our community.

We have many organizations that work hard to promote conservation. We have hunting groups, sportsmen groups, conservation organizations, State and local DNR organizations. Many of them have come together to protect the gray wolf population in Wisconsin, so much so that it has become healthy, and the gray wolf has been taken off and delisted from the Endangered Species Act.

However, not all organizations come at this with a pure heart. We have some whose main purpose and priority is filing lawsuits and suing the government under the Endangered Species Act. It is these sue-and-settle tactics that don't advance the cause of preserving our environment, and they aren't good for the American taxpayer.

What is more, many of these lawsuits are funded by way of Federal tax dollars to support the litigation, so in essence, we are spending tens of millions of dollars of hardworking Americans' tax dollars to sue ourselves.

So I think it is important that we have transparency in government. If an
organization is suing the Federal Government under the Endangered Species Act and they are using Federal money, let's disclose it. Let's all see it.

We might come together and say that is a good use of our Federal tax dollars, or we might say that is outrageous that we should be funding suits against ourselves.

This is a commonsense amendment. I would ask my colleagues to support it.

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Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Chairman, I would just note that money is fungible. To the point that this is going to cost a lot of money, I would disagree.

All we are asking for is that if you receive Federal money and you are suing the Federal Government, that you disclose it. You don't have to go on a witch-hunt. You don't have to go find it.

If you receive these dollars and you are suing the Federal Government, tell us. If the gentleman is correct, there won't be any disclosure, but if what I suspect is true, there will be a lot of disclosure, and the American people will see how their tax money is being used to sue themselves.

Mr. Chairman, I would note in closing that good government is a government that has transparency, and we should know how our tax dollars are being used. This is not overburdensome. This is a simple request that if you use hard-earned taxpayer money to sue the Federal Government under the Endangered Species Act, the Federal taxpayers know how their money is being spent.

This makes sense. It doesn't cost any money. It is not a hardship, so let's stand together. Let's work together, and let's make sure we have full knowledge in how this money is being used.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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