Political Quotes

“Yes, this is an area that I have worked on for some time, northern long-eared bats. I have actually spent a lot of time in caves with a Pennsylvania bat biologist who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, where we did bat counts. We looked at white-nose syndrome, which really has nothing to do with humans. This is a fungus. I think it has been around now for at least 20 years. In 2013, we had this same debate. In October 2013, there was an effort to try to list these northern long-eared bats as endangered. It was an extended debate. Quite frankly, under the Obama administration, just a few years later, we were successful in keeping them from being listed as endangered. They were listed as threatened because what we needed more than anything else was research. We have provided that research now for 10 years, and there are good findings. We know that the temperature within those dwellings where they hibernate, the colder the temperature, the more that we can reduce how often they wake up. Quite frankly, it is when they wake up, when their hibernation is interrupted that weakens the bat, and they have more difficulties reproducing because they just don't have the energy for it, I guess. This is like, here we go again. The distinguished ranking member mentioned Groundhog Day. I thank him for doing that. That is my district, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day.…”