Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 2083 authorizes the lethal taking of over 1,000 sea lions and an unknown amount of seals annually. Counter to what we have heard, the bill will not significantly aid in the recovery of salmon populations but needlessly targets seals and sea lions. I think we have to put this piece of legislation in context to what this House has done and what the Natural Resources Committee has done: a pattern. It is another example of how my Republican colleagues view wildlife management policy in the 21st century. We have too many attacks on wildlife in this Congress. Last year, Republicans released a bill to overturn a 2016 judicial decision to allow the shooting of cormorants without ever considering nonlethal management. The claimed rationale is to protect sports fishing and aquaculture, although scant science, evidence, or fact exists to prove that the birds significantly impact fish populations. In February of last year, this Chamber voted to allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to shoot bear cubs from a helicopter and gas wolf pups in their dens on Alaska National Wildlife Refuges to artificially inflate populations of moose and caribou prized by trophy hunters. In the 115th Congress, Republicans have introduced dozens of bills and policy riders targeting the Endangered Species Act and species like the gray wolf, grizzly bears, greater sage-grouse, delta smelt, and Chinook salmon.…”