Jerry Moran: “Well, that's it. Reclaiming my time, the shot across the bow goes right into the heart of the Endangered Species Act. So…”

“Well, that's it. Reclaiming my time, the shot across the bow goes right into the heart of the Endangered Species Act. So you are picking winners and losers. You could have picked any number of programs, but you like those. In fact, some of them you've increased--funding for grazing subsidies, funding for oil and gas subsidies. But the Endangered Species Act, the poor species who are in danger of extinction who can't speak up for themselves, they get targeted. They're the ones you are going to make an example of. You know, not allowing listings of the designation of even the critical habitat that will protect endangered species doesn't change the fact that so many plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. There are 260 species that are in danger of extinction, but we're not going to protect them. The lack of critical habitat designations not only hurts those species at risk, but it leaves in limbo landowners and businesses that need decisions made in order to make plans. We hear so much about uncertainty and how bad uncertainty is. This creates uncertainty. The twist of irony: The bill allows funding to be used to delist species or reclassify them from endangered to threatened, to delist them or down-list them, but no funds can be used for listings or to reclassify them from threatened to endangered. Even if they become endangered, we can't classify them as endangered. We can only down-list them. It's a one-way street, a one-way street to less protection.…”