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Source: Congress.gov
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Rule 4F, any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the chairman and the ranking minority member. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Again, good morning to everyone and thank you for joining us today for our member day hearing. These hearings present an opportunity for members who don't sit on our committee as well as some who do to testify on behalf of legislation and to raise awareness of issues within the jurisdiction of the committee on natural resources. Natural resources issues have a profound impact on every American whether They happen to live in the stretches of rural Arkansas contained in my district on a ranch under the big sky of Montana or amidst the mountains and forests of the Northeast. Suburbanites and city residents are also significantly affected by the contours of natural resource policy. Today, we will be privileged to hear from our colleagues on issues that are important to their communities and to learn about their proposed solutions. But today isn't the starting point for much of this work. Rather, it's a continuation of the process of expansive district-centric engagement that our committee has been carrying out. Just last week, we advanced a historic budget reconciliation title that generates more than $18.5 billion in new revenues and savings for the American people by unleashing our nation's abundant natural resources. The legislation was months in the making and represents Committee Republicans' commitment to make commonsense, science-based, and economically sound decisions concerning our public resources. By reinstating onshore oil and gas lease sales, increasing timber harvesting on federal lands, and rescinding misguided slush funds, the Committee of Republicans are delivering on our commitment to get our nation's fiscal house in order and make our nation energy dominant today and far into the future. House Republicans have also championed legislation in this Congress on issues like permitting reform. America's permitting process is broken and it's far past time to push back against the special interest groups who have weaponized the process to block projects.
We have the opportunity to solve some of the most pressing issues facing our communities by streamlining permitting for crucial infrastructure projects and eliminating bureaucratic red tape that holds back the responsible development of our domestic energy and mineral resources. along with infrastructure and many other projects that get bogged down in the red tape of permitting. Without tackling this reform, we cannot usher in a golden age of American energy. We cannot reduce wildfire risk or complete almost any large-scale projects across our great nation. One of the important solutions to reducing regulatory hurdles in the United States is the ESA Amendments Act of 2025, which makes critical updates to the Endangered Species Act. It has been noted on this committee that since its inception, the ESA only succeeded in recovering about 3% of listed species. If a football team only made first downs on 3% of its possessions, it would be foolish to blindly continue running the same play while expecting a different result. The same is true with the ESA. The federal government continues to run the same failing play expecting to finally win the game of sensibly protecting our endangered species. The ESA Amendments Act of 2025 incentivizes the recovery of listed species, promotes species conservation on public and private lands, codifies clear definitions, and streamlines the ESA permitting process. This new playbook will help us run plays that actually achieve the Act's original goal, and that is to ensure that species are recovered and then remove them from the list. These are just a few of the priorities we've been advancing in this Congress, and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues today on legislative initiatives important to them and their constituents.
Thank you again for taking the time to join us. I yield back and recognize the ranking member for any opening statement he may have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and colleagues. Our committee has one of the broadest and most consequential mandates in this Congress. At our best, we develop and enact legislation and do oversight that safeguards the conservation and sustainable use of America's natural and historic resources from energy and minerals to rangeland, fisheries, and forests. We strengthen the health and resilience of federal lands and waters along with the communities that depend on them. We protect and restore our country's most irreplaceable and unique places in wildlife. And we improve the lives of Indian tribes, Alaska natives, Native Hawaiians, and American citizens living in the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico. But we are not at our best right now. And, Mr. Chairman, I have a different view of what happened in this committee last week. Jamming through the most extreme, environmentally destructive bill in our country's history is part of a broader package to give tax cuts and sweetheart deals to some of the largest and wealthiest corporations and richest billionaires in the world. And doing that while refusing to adopt or even debate more than 120 Democrat amendments, that was a spectacle. That was not a deliberative process. And I'm told that your colleagues and other committees this week have changed course and are participating in debates, which I think perhaps highlights and underscores just how untenable and disappointing it was the way Republicans comported themselves in that markup here in our committee. I've never seen anything like it, and I hope we never see anything like it again. Committee Democrats will continue to fight that legislation and press Republicans to help us hold this president and his billionaire pals accountable. I hope that now the committee can also find some time to identify things across the aisle that perhaps we can work together on.
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