House sends two resolutions overturning endangered species rules to Biden’s desk

The House voted Thursday to overturn two Biden administration Endangered Species Act (ESA) rules, sending the resolution to the president, who has vowed to veto them.

The two rules apply to federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken and the northern long-eared bat, respectively. The Senate voted in favor of both resolutions in May by a 51-49 margin in both cases. 

The prairie chicken resolution passed 221-206 with four Democrats voting in favor — Reps. Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Sharice Davids (Kan.) and Gabe Vasquez (N.M.) — and a single Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), voting against. 

The bat resolution, meanwhile, passed 220-208, with Cuellar and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) joining all Republicans but Fitzpatrick.

In floor remarks, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) blasted the GOP majority as prioritizing rolling back environmental protections over economic issues.

“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle spent two years shouting about things like inflation and public safety, but now, in power, they’re heading into a six-week recess focused on stripping protections from bats and prairie chickens,” Beyer said.

The White House has already said it will veto both resolutions.

“The lesser prairie-chicken serves as an indicator for healthy grasslands and prairies, making them an important measure of the overall health of America’s grasslands, a treasured and storied landscape,” the White House said in May after the passage of the first resolution.

In reference to the bat rule, the White House said later in May that “[o]verturning this rule would risk extinction of a species. Overturning protections for the northern long-eared bat that are rooted in science would undermine America’s proud wildlife conservation traditions and risk extinction of the species.”

The Congressional Review Act allows a simple majority of both chambers of Congress to vote to overturn executive rulemaking. The Republicans’ House majority has frequently used the law to target the Biden administration’s energy and environment regulations, previously voting down a pause on solar tariffs imposed by the Biden administration and a rule on truck efficiency.