Ranking Member Grijalva Blasts GOP’s Pro-Polluter Resolutions to Bully Bats & Chickens, Highlights Republican Inaction on Climate Crisis
Washington, D.C. – On the House floor today, House Natural Resources Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) spoke in opposition of S.J. Res 9 and S.J. Res 24, two joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to cut Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the lesser prairie chicken and Northern long-eared bat.
The American people are facing many pressing issues right now, including record-breaking heat waves across the country fueled by climate change. But as Ranking Member Grijalva pointed out in his remarks, House Republicans are spending the last in-session day before the six-week August district work period pushing anti-ESA resolutions that will be vetoed. See the Biden administration’s Statements of Administration Policy for S.J. Res 9 and S.J. Res 24.
Transcripts of Ranking Member Grijalva’s opening and closing remarks for both resolutions are below. Remarks are as delivered.
Transcript of Ranking Member Grijalva’s Opening Floor Remarks on S.J. Res. 9
(CLICK HERE for video)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in opposition to this resolution.
There is a lot I could say—and thought about saying—about this resolution and the one we will see after it. I could talk about how badly these two measures undermine conservation efforts for species that are endangered, threatened across our nation and across the globe.
I could talk about how these resolutions give industry — not science — the upper hand in making decisions about endangered species.
I could talk about how this latest offering from Team Extreme takes the G.O.P.’s vendetta against the Endangered Species Act to a level that should offend us all.
But as I thought about it, I realized that what’s more offensive than these resolutions themselves is the fact that these resolutions are on the floor right now, today.
We are about to leave the House floor for six weeks. By the time we come back, summer will nearly be over.
And if the current temperatures stay on track, it will be one of the most brutal summers in this country’s recorded history.
In my home state of Arizona, Phoenix has broken records with what is now a 27-day streak of more than 110-degree heat.
In Florida, the ocean heat wave has warmed the waters to 5 to 7 degrees above normal. That level of heat is a disaster for corals, marine life, and all the businesses and local economies that depend on them.
And tragically, last month, a heat dome in Texas was so oppressive that it claimed 13 lives.
That also happened to be the same month that was awarded the grim honor of being the hottest June ever on record. And July isn’t looking any different.
Climate change isn’t some distant warning about melting ice caps in the far-off future.
The climate crisis is here. It is now. People are suffering. People are dying. And the G.O.P. isn’t doing a thing about it.
This year, in the Natural Resources Committee, the Republican majority has had zero hearings on climate change. They’ve introduced zero bills to seriously address climate change. They’ve introduced zero bills to help communities being hurt by climate change. And they’ve accepted zero Democratic amendments to include climate change in any of their legislation.
And today, Republicans have decided that the most important thing they could do before we leave for six weeks would be a couple of resolutions to kill off the lesser prairie chicken and the Northern long-eared bat.
We are about to go back to our districts, where our constituents will have questions about what we’re doing to protect their homes, their business, and their livelihoods from increasing threats of climate change and the crisis upon us.
I have to wonder if my Republican colleagues think that bullying chickens and bats will be a sufficient answer.
I don’t agree. And I’m certain our constituents won’t agree either.
Fortunately for Democrats, we can assure our constituents that we passed the country’s biggest ever investment in climate and clean energy through the Inflation Reduction Act last year, and that the Biden administration is working to get that funding out the door as quickly and equitably as possible, against ongoing efforts through appropriations to defund those initiatives and to dismantle, as we see today, existing environmental protections, and unfortunately, for the Big Gas and Big Oil industry in this country, to make Americans more and more dependent on fossil fuels as their source of energy, and thus, increasing the climate crisis that we are experiencing now.
Common sense says that the new party in charge of the House would want to keep that historic momentum going. But sometimes, common sense ain’t that common.
I urge my colleagues to vote no on these resolutions. I urge my Republican colleagues to come back in September with a better plan to help the American people than a couple of go-nowhere resolutions that beat up on bats and chickens.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ranking Member Grijalva’s Closing Floor Remarks on S.J. Res. 9
As we close this debate, I want to make something very, very clear. I agree that the lesser prairie chicken is important. All threatened and endangered species are important. We are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis as we speak.
What I find patently unimportant is this resolution that doesn’t respect the science, doesn’t respect our imperative to protect biodiversity and slow down climate change, and certainly doesn’t respect what the American people have sent us here to do and the important things that are not being done.
This resolution is a polluter-requested, partisan attack that my Republican colleagues seem to be able to defend only with opinions, anecdotes, and industry talking points. And I’ll remind us all: It will go nowhere.
Good policy is not built solely on opinions. It’s built on science, facts, and the needs of the American people.
And the fact is that climate change — not the chicken — is killing Americans and costing us hundreds of billions of dollars each year. I urge my colleagues to oppose Senate Joint Resolution 9, and Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Transcript of Ranking Member Grijalva’s Opening Floor Remarks on S.J. Res. 24
Thank you and I rise in opposition to this resolution.
Like the one we just saw, this resolution doesn’t do anything the American people have asked for.
In my 20 years in Congress, no constituent has ever asked me what we’re doing to put the Northern long-eared bat on the brink of extinction. I suspect I’m not alone.
So, that raises the question: If Republicans aren’t answering to the American people with these absurd resolutions, who are they answering to?
Unfortunately, the answer is the same as it is was since the beginning of this congress.
And nowhere is that answer clearer than the Natural Resources Committee, where we see countless hearings and bills just like this one, that attack the Endangered Species Act and our other fundamental environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act.
To put it simply, the GOP’s environmental and energy agenda is designed for one constituency and one constituency only: The polluting industry.
If you have any doubts, let’s just do a brief recap.
Starting back in January, after they finally finished the 15 votes it took to elect a Speaker, the Republican majority wasted no time in getting H.R. 21, their first—and apparently last—open rule bill to the floor.
That bill was a shameless giveaway of our public lands to Big Oil. And despite the fact that they already have millions of acres of leases, and they don’t even use them, it was still their first “important” bill for the Republican majority.
Next, we had H.R. 1, fittingly dubbed the Polluters Over People Act. The bill number H.R. 1 is typically reserved for the majority party’s most important and visionary piece of legislation. In this case, it seems the G.O.P.’s vision for America is a desperate, deliberate attempt to give oil, gas, and mining companies every handout and loophole they can dream up.
H.R. 1 lowered royalty rates, repealed interest fees, reinstated noncompetitive leasing, weakened public health and safety guardrails, and of course, systematically gutted NEPA.
Given the bill’s unpopularity and grim outlook anywhere beyond this extremist House majority, Republicans decided that the only way to pass it would be to hold the American people hostage with their MAGA-manufactured debt ceiling crisis and make the Polluters Over People Act part of that ransom note.
Unfortunately for all of us, that wasn’t the end of their pro-polluter crusade.
Industry’s favorite GOP enablers have already signaled that they’re planning to use the next must-pass legislation opportunity that they have, likely our appropriations bills, as the next hostage situation.
I guess the policy agenda that only polluters want isn’t something you can pass through regular order in this House.
Which brings us back to where we are today. These resolutions attack the Endangered Species Act, one of the country’s most beloved and successful environmental laws.
In the 50 years since it was signed into law, the ESA has protected 99% of listed species from extinction. And no time is more important than now, while we’re facing the compounding crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
We should be strengthening and supporting ESA science and implementation, not pecking at it in order to destroy the ESA.
Ranking Member Grijalva’s Closing Floor Remarks on S.J. Res. 24
At the Rules Committee hearing earlier this week, one of my Republican colleagues admitted that he hopes the white nose syndrome wipes out all of the Northern long-eared bats, so we, and I quote, “won’t have to worry about it.”
It was a pretty bold thing to admit out loud. And a little short-sighted I might add.
The Northern long eared bat, like every species of bat we are fortunate to have left, is critical to our ecosystem and the agricultural industry.
So, if these bats are wiped out, I want to point out that we actually do “have to worry about it.”
I also can’t help but be struck by the similarities between my Republican colleagues’ — let’s call it unique — wildlife conservation strategy and the approach they are taking on many of the other major issues facing the American people right now.
Ignoring the facts, ignoring the science, and just letting the damage ensue has become an all-too-common GOP policy plan.
Climate change of course is one of the most pressing issues where that GOP plan is all too clear.
So, as we wrap up here and head back to our districts, I want to leave my colleagues with some final thoughts.
If the Northern long-eared bat goes extinct, we need to worry about it.
If the lesser prairie chicken goes extinct, we need to worry about it.
And if the climate crisis keeps barreling forward over these next two years, while my Republican colleagues refuse to do a single thing to protect communities, local businesses, and our health, we most certainly need to worry about that.
The issue for me is not singular to these two CRAs. It is about a very coordinated and deliberate effort to undo protections for the American people and for species, and to deny and to avoid dealing with the monumental crisis that we have before us, which is climate.
If we prepare a transition now, we can make it an equitable and less painful process. If we continue to pass resolutions like this, and continue to follow a Big Oil, Big Gas agenda that the G.O.P. presses upon this Congress and the American people, then that climate crisis is gonna be painful, expensive, and costly to both humans and to our economy.
So, I urge opposition of the resolution and yield back the remainder.
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