Reducing our debt will require creative thinking and new approaches that include both spending cuts and raising new revenue.

On rollcall No. 709, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Reforms must increase accountability, improve efficiency, promote safety and ensure the highest ethical standards of employees.

These reforms will help expand American energy production in order to protect and create American jobs.

The stakes are high and we must ensure that reforms are done right.

I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I understand the gentleman's comments. And I know the hearing yesterday addresses the issue, which is separate from this. Listen, we should have that debate; we should have that discussion. This issue…

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I'm glad the gentleman brought up Secretarial order 3310 because that's what we're talking about here. Now the first sentence under section one, Purpose, it says: The Secretarial order affirms the…

I asked the gentleman to yield because this is precisely the point that this debate and discussion on the Endangered Species Act is having. If you recall in the CR, the Endangered Species Act was amended to allow Idaho and Montana to…

As a matter of fact, the gray wolves are showing up in the Cascades now, the eastern side of the Cascades. So you'll get them.

I appreciate my friend from Washington reading the section, but he left out the last sentence of that section. I think this is a pertinent part and this is the point that the gentleman from Alaska is making, and it regards safety…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to point out that the staff clearly researched the language here and applicable laws that relate to these waters. That's what we do when we put this language in here. With that, I yield to the gentleman…

If the gentleman remembers, because he was in a committee hearing, under direct questioning, I think it was Director Abbey said that there is no authority to make any designation under law of wild lands because that was a made-up term…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate the gentleman's remarks. I would remind him, from the time that we did get control of Congress in 1995 until your side gained control after the 2006 election, that was the issue that the…

I appreciate the gentleman's closing remarks when he said this is not the proper venue to address the Endangered Species Act. That has been my argument, too. I think it should be done in the authorizing committee. But the fact of the…

I just want to say, because the gentleman made a very good remark, but since we're talking about bald eagles, in our State they're around, and I would invite the gentleman to come to where I live in the desert in central Washington where…

Let me make one point: This debate is not about the Endangered Species Act; it is not about the Endangered Species Act. I have to rise in opposition to the amendment offered by my good friend from Washington State. I think that Chairman…

I just want to respond to my friend from Virginia. The bill passed, if my memory serves me correctly, with bipartisan support. But, yes, of course there are political risks in doing whatever we're doing in this body; and we all face that…

He did, as did Senator Crapo from Idaho. Here is the problem: The problem is that through all of the efforts of Chairman Pombo of trying to get this enacted and he couldn't get it through the Senate, then you know what the Appropriations…

I totally agree with you, and I said that in the opening remarks. The gentleman from Washington suggested that, and I totally agree with him.

The argument is not about the Endangered Species Act. The argument is about the serious business of sitting down and reauthorizing an act that has not been reauthorized since the 1980s.

If the gentleman will continue to yield, I can't argue with the gentleman. I'm simply saying we need to look at this. It has been 23 years. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentleman from California has again expired. (On request of Mr…

We share that concern about the salmon. I would point out to the gentleman that the salmon runs in the Snake River and the tributaries are coming back in greater number, which would suggest that the species is being recovered. And yet we…

I've been chairman now for a little over 6 months. I have every intention to do that, and I want to work with the gentleman on this.

As I mentioned in my remarks when I spoke, that certainly is the intent of the committee that I chair that has jurisdiction. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has again expired. {time} 2100

Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for that clarification. As we both know, the problem goes far beyond wolves. The ESA has nearly 1,400 listed species in the U.S. and hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by local, State…