Duncan Faircloth: “I first want to commend the Junior Senator from Idaho for his leadership on this issue. I know that reforming the…”

“I first want to commend the Junior Senator from Idaho for his leadership on this issue. I know that reforming the Endangered Species Act is a critical issue to Idaho. It is a make or break issue for many of our constituents. I am certain that he will approach the reauthorization with the reasoned, commonsense perspective it desperately needs. Mr. President, as a life-long farmer, I understand the value of wildlife. I have grown up with wildlife and protected it without government forcing me to. But also as a farmer, I understand the incredible burden being placed on private landowners and public resources to meet the mandates of this act. The problem comes when the bureaucracy gets out of control and government hurts people in order to protect animals. That is precisely what is happening all around the country. And where it is not already happening, it will happen soon. For instance, in North Carolina we have thousands of acres of valuable timberland which cannot be cut because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes it may harm red cockaded woodpeckers. Some changes have been announced recently that should help matters some. But there remains a big problem back home. By any reasonable measure the government has seized the land of many of my constituents without offering them a dime of compensation. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy and the environmental industry do not care about the reality outside of Washington.”