Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1404, as was stated by my two colleagues, is a culmination of a longstanding land agreement between Tucson Unified School District and the Pascua Yaqui…

If House Republicans think we should no longer enforce the Endangered Species Act or NEPA, they should have the courage to go before the voters with plans to repeal these laws.

My Republican colleagues need to make up their minds: are judges power-mad, judicial activists, or are they defenseless victims being abused by environmental lawyers? The truth is, they are neither.

The premise of this hearing is false.

Too often, it seems like my Republican colleagues are arsonists one day, and firefighters the next.

You will hear no evidence today that environmental plaintiffs are subject to more fines or punishments than any other kinds of plaintiffs. This is not a real problem.

The ability to sue the government and win leads to better policy outcomes, more faith in government.

That is exactly the kind of misleading and unfair tactic a responsible judge would throw out of court.

I think it is important to the effectiveness of conservation laws and our democracy, in general.

Litigation "rights the ship," as Mr. Grijalva said, and it's a critically important part of our constitutional system.

Of course, they support a budget that slashes LWCF funding by 85 percent.