Roger Marshall: “today, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 9, providing for congressional disapproval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's…”

“today, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 9, providing for congressional disapproval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rule regarding the lesser prairie-chicken under the Congressional Review Act. Since I was 10 years old, my family has enjoyed hunting prairie chickens. As a matter of fact, the first bird I ever shot, the first time I ever went hunting, 10 years of age with a 20-gauge single shotgun, I was able to down one of these beautiful birds. But last November, the Fish and Wildlife Service ignored decades of voluntary conservation efforts and published a rule lifting the lesser prairie-chicken species as endangered and threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Enacted in 1973, the Endangered Species Act, the ESA, was created to protect species believed to be on the brink of extinction. Today, the consequences of this law reach far beyond its original intent. If saving species were the only consideration, then this administration wouldn't be listing the lesser prairie-chicken whose population is considered stable in my home State of Kansas. I ask you, was the ESA made for the good of human kind or was human kind made for the good of the ESA?…”