It is critical that we don't take for granted the goodwill that has been generated between us and our FSA partners.

We must keep these challenges in mind as we consider solutions that will be of mutual benefit to our national security.

We are now facing unprecedented rates of global warming, habitat destruction, and degradation, and our world is at the risk of losing 1 million species.

The Endangered Species Act is supported by over 90 percent of the American people.

We have drafted the Extinction Prevention Act to provide funding for some of those underfunded, most imperiled species.

The 8 years that it took to pass the second Palau agreement caused significant damage to the economy of Palau.

It does not make sense to us why it is necessary to create additional bureaucratic layers when the current process has not had issues.

This is shared. Indeed, this issue is of such strategic and alliance importance.

The signal that the FAS would receive from this change is that the U.S. is seeking to downgrade the importance of the U.S. relationship with the FAS.

I think the issue of mandatory is essential in this discussion.

Today, as the Ranking Member noted, some of us are celebrating 50 years of the Endangered Species Act. Others are trying to gut it.