WASHINGTON – Today Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas) voted in favor of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) that recognizes the voluntary efforts of Kansas farmers, ranchers and energy producers to conserve the lesser prairie-chicken (LPC) habitat and removes the burdensome listing of the bird in the Endangered Species Act. The House passed the CRA 221 to 206 with bipartisan support. The CRA previously passed the Senate 50 to 48. Before passage, Rep. Estes spoke in favor of the CRA on the House floor.
"In recent months, [Kansas farmers, ranchers and energy producers] have felt the Biden administration's massive overreach as D.C. bureaucrats use the federal government to overregulate hardworking Americans a thousand miles from the swamp," said Rep. Estes. "Federal and state governments have spent millions of dollars to determine the population is stable, yet the Biden administration is engaging in insidious actions like creating the north and south regions to help prop up their narrative that the lesser prairie-chicken population was declining."
Rep. Estes continued, "Today as we vote on this Congressional Review Act, it's critical that we hold the line and prevent the Biden administration from pursuing this hostile land grab. Kansas ag and energy producers are doing their part, and millions of taxpayer dollars have confirmed that the current conservation plan is working."
Watch Rep. Estes' remarks
Full Remarks
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of Kansas farmers, ranchers and energy producers who take it upon themselves to conserve the land and vulnerable species in rural Kansas each and every day.
In recent months, these Kansans have felt the Biden administration's massive overreach as D.C. bureaucrats use the federal government to overregulate hardworking Americans a thousand miles from the swamp.
In 2015 the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lesser prairie-chicken as endangered, only to delist it a year later as their analysis was flawed. Despite losing a court case and seeing an actual increase in the lesser prairie-chicken population, they're now classified as threatened and endangered in two distinct population segments in the United States.
Kansas farmers, ranchers and energy producers – those closer to the lesser prairie-chicken's habitat – are excellent stewards of natural resources. They have repeatedly demonstrated responsible actions as they tend the land that feeds and fuels the world. What they don't need is a heavy-handed government approach to land management – especially when those mandates are unfounded and not based on actual science.
Today, we can correct this mistaken classification with a Congressional Review Act. Even in a divided Senate, the CRA resolution passed with bipartisan support.
Successful, voluntary public-private conservation practices have prompted the lesser prairie-chicken population to nearly double through 2021, with a statistically insignificant decrease between 2021 and 2022. Federal and state governments have spent millions of dollars to determine the population is stable, yet the Biden administration is engaging in insidious actions like creating the north and south regions to help prop up their narrative that the lesser prairie-chicken population was declining.
While it might seem extreme to squawk about this single species, it's representative of the overall tone of the Biden administration – force unworkable mandates on hardworking Kansans to appease bureaucrats and elitists who aren't impacted by their decisions. They've used this playbook before, and this encroachment on private property rights will be replicated in state after state across the country.
Today as we vote on this Congressional Review Act, it's critical that we hold the line and prevent the Biden administration from pursuing this hostile land grab. Kansas agriculture and energy producers are doing their part, and millions of taxpayer dollars have confirmed that the current conservation plan is working.
Mr. Speaker, this humble bird has benefited through Kansans' voluntary conservation habitat, and today we have the opportunity to put an end to the Biden administration's attack on rural Americans through this common sense CRA. Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.
