the Fish and Wildlife request for fiscal year 2016 is another $23 million specifically for listing alone.

What is my answer to the people when I go back to western Oklahoma and they say, how much longer is it going to be until we do something with this vast, this growing beetle?

The ESA recovery rate is a mere 2 percent, even though the entire Federal Government spent $1.2 billion on species conservation in 2013.

The answer to that is a firm no.

it doesn't matter who we talk to in the rural areas. It can be farmers who are concerned about, can they go out and plow their fields without disrupting this critter's habitat?

Let me applaud Senator Sullivan for his passion, his representation of his State. It means a lot to us and to the system.

I have always felt Senator Markey to be a very close friend.

I think he would agree that the Endangered Species Act can--and must be--improved.

Why is it that we are spending all this time on listing and not delisting?

I said at the beginning of this Congress that our Committee would conduct vigorous oversight of the Obama administration's environmental policies.

I think we have been through the same thing, those of us up at this table.

I can assure you that the majority on this committee don't agree with that.

Dale Hall was a very good Oklahoman.

I think if they were to complain about one thing in the way the process worked, ... is that they didn't really have a seat at the table when a decision was made.

That is a good statement.

I hope people keep in mind that Republicans and Democrats are both very sensitive to this beautiful world that we have and the environment that we live in.

Well, thank you. Just kind of building on what Senator Crapo is saying, there is kind of an irresistible temptation by a lot of people, when their argument is not too good, to start name-calling, and I sit here and it is very difficult…

I believe much more progress could have been made if the Fish and Wildlife Service had taken the funds it is using the list the northern long-eared bat and use those funds for research and other tools to diminish the effects of the white…