Earthjustice Statement on House Vote to Remove Protections for Bay Delta Longfin Smelt

Earthjustice Statement on House Vote to Remove Protections for Bay Delta Longfin Smelt

"We urge the Senate to oppose this dangerous attack on the Endangered Species Act and all other public protections."

Contacts

Geoffrey Nolan, gnolan@earthjustice.org

Today, the House of Representatives voted to overturn endangered species protection for the Bay Delta Longfin Smelt. The House voted to repeal the rule using a Congressional Review Act resolution introduced by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) . After the vote, Earthjustice Associate Legislative Representative Cameron Walkupissued the following statement:

"In one fell swoop, House Republicans voted today to not only push the Bay-Delta Longfin Smelt closer to extinction, but to also unleash a Pandora's box of deregulatory attacks on future agency actions. This is yet another example of why the Congressional Review Act should be repealed as it is nothing more than a tool to erode important environmental, biodiversity, public health, and safety protections. We urge the Senate to oppose this dangerous attack on the Endangered Species Act and all other public protections."

Congress can use the Congressional Review Act's special set of parliamentary procedures to undo a rule if it meets explicitly defined criteria in the CRA statute. This includes strict timelines for when Congress must act to review a rule. Once those time periods expire, the CRA cannot be used to bypass the filibuster to repeal a rule.

USFWS issued the rule listing Bay-Delta longfin smelt under the Endangered Species Act on July 30, 2024. The House officially received it on August 9, 2024 and the Senate on August 15, 2024. All three dates fall before the August 16, 2024 date that marks the start of the "lookback period" when rules that are submitted with fewer than 60 days left in a legislative session must receive a new 60 day period of review in the following session of Congress. As a result, Congress cannot use the CRA to overturn these protections in the 119th Congress.

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