©2025 League of Conservation Voters
Issues
The House considered Senator Roger Marshall’s (R-KS) S.J. Res. 9, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval, which would repeal the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) rule protecting lesser prairie-chickens under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The CRA is an extreme and blunt tool that is being used by anti-environmental members of Congress who want to permanently strip away protections for our environment, communities, wildlife, and natural heritage. In this case, use of the CRA could prevent FWS from ever protecting the lesser prairie-chicken under the ESA in the future, even if the populations collapsed or just a handful of individual birds remained. These CRA resolutions will significantly harm efforts to protect endangered species and the ESA itself. Alarmingly, this was the first time in the CRA’s 30-year history that the House attempted to use the law to rescind ESA protections for an individual species. On July 27, the House approved S.J. Res. 9 by a vote of 221-206 (House roll call vote 381). The Senate approved S.J. Res. 9 on May 3; however, the president vetoed it on September 26, and on September 28, the Senate failed to override the president’s veto.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters