Congressional Western Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), my friend, for yielding.

I would like to first look at the Special Order and give a big ``thank you'' to Mr. Newhouse for his passion for solving these issues affecting the Western States.

Madam Speaker, I have been honored to be the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus for the past 3 years. In that time, the caucus has been the leading voice in the charge to modernize the decades-old Endangered Species Act.

It is clear that the ESA simply isn't working the way it should. Statistics show that only 3 percent of species listed under the act have been delisted.

Madam Speaker, if only 3 percent of the patients admitted to a hospital walked out healthy, that hospital would be shut down immediately. This rate of ineptitude is not sustainable.

Back in September, I was proud to organize and chair a forum of Members of Congress and more than 30 stakeholders from across the country to hear firsthand testimonials about how the ESA is broken and to hear suggestions for modifications and reform to make it work better. These testimonies hit home, exposing the fact that the Endangered Species Act is in disrepair and in desperate need of reform.

There have been several very positive developments in modernizing ESA in the last year alone. The administration, with the full support of the Congressional Western Caucus, proposed three new rules for the ESA.

This new rulemaking is the first substantial amending of the act since the 1980s. These new rules make the ESA more transparent and efficient, and they act more in line with Congress' intent.

In addition, I am excited about the Congressional Western Caucus' Endangered Species Act reform package for the 116th Congress, which currently comprises 17 separate pieces of legislation. This package includes six bills that were included in a similar package in the 115th Congress and three other bills from Western Caucus members offered in the 115th Congress. It seeks to codify the three regulations recently finalized by the Trump administration. It also includes six new bills. These bills protect private property rights, encourage voluntary conservation, improve forest health in order to preserve and protect species and local communities, increase multiple- use activities, and protect critical infrastructure.

The sponsoring Members of these bills come from nearly every geographic corner of the United States. These Members are taking constituent-driven initiatives and working to make them law.

The need for a package like this is obvious. For example, forests are burning across the West on a yearly basis, in part because of ludicrous ESA restrictions.

Similarly, I am sure everyone in this Chamber is familiar with some of my Democratic colleagues' sentiments that if we do not pass the Green New Deal, the world will end in 12 years. What they do not talk about is that there is no way that their already unrealistic renewable energy goals can be met without large-scale buildup of new power lines and other energy transmission infrastructure. Under current environmental regulations, including the ESA, building pieces of that very infrastructure could take at least 12 years, so I guess we are all doomed anyway.

As I mentioned earlier, great steps have been taken by the Trump administration to bring the ESA into the 21st century. My Democratic colleagues, however, Madam Speaker, cannot help themselves and are preparing to fight these commonsense proposals instead of helping and getting onboard.

Tomorrow, the Natural Resources Committee will mark the bill that will undo these landmark reforms to the ESA. This is, once again, a purely political act by this House, and it has no chance of going anywhere.

Instead, I call on my Democratic colleagues to work with us to build on the new regulations from the Trump administration to get the ESA working again and better protect species.

Once again, Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Newhouse, for allowing me to speak during this important Special Order today and for his leadership in highlighting the need to reform the Endangered Species Act.

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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting this Special Order.

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