Charles W. Stenholm: “Mr. Chairman, I planned to offer an amendment today that would prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from spending…”

“Mr. Chairman, I planned to offer an amendment today that would prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from spending appropriated funding to add species to the endangered or threatened species list until the Fish and Wildlife Service moves forward with efforts to complete a population viability assessment on the Concho water snake. Five years ago, I came to this body during the very same debate we are having today. At that time I worked with chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), to provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with $300,000 to study the feasibility of removing the Concho water snake from the threatened species list. To this day, the Fish and Wildlife Service has not issued a final decision. There has been no accountability as to how the service has used the funding that was provided to them. In June 1986, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Concho water snake as a threatened species.”