Vote NO on H.R. 1897 - Support the Endangered Species Act!

I am writing as your constituent to demand that you vote NO on H.R. 1897, the “Endangered Species Amendment Act of 2025.” This bill is not reform. It is a direct attack on the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the wildlife it protects. For more than 50 years, the ESA has been one of the most successful conservation laws ever enacted, preventing the extinction of 99% of listed species. It is a science-based, court-tested law grounded in a simple principle: extinction should never be an acceptable cost of development. H.R. 1897 would dismantle the safeguards that made this law work. The bill weakens the scientific consultation process that prevents federal actions from destroying critical habitat or pushing endangered species closer to extinction. It restricts what agencies can consider, ignores cumulative and long-term environmental harm, and raises the bar for intervention even when species are clearly declining. It also slows the listing of new species — leaving vulnerable wildlife unprotected for years — while making it easier to remove species from protection before recovery goals are achieved. At the same time, it strips meaningful oversight from permits that allow harm to protected species and limits agencies’ ability to respond to new science or worsening environmental conditions. At a time of accelerating habitat loss and climate disruption, tying the hands of scientists and wildlife managers is reckless. The bill further redefines “conservation” in a way that opens the door to expanded sport hunting of imperiled species and shifts management to states before recovery benchmarks are met. It replaces enforceable, science-based protections with voluntary plans that have repeatedly failed to stop species decline. That is not conservation — it is abandonment. Perhaps most troubling, H.R. 1897 undermines the ESA’s “best available science” standard by forcing federal agencies to accept all state and local data regardless of scientific quality. That politicizes decision-making and erodes the scientific integrity that has guided wildlife protection for decades. This legislation is not modernization. It is a calculated effort to weaken one of America’s most important environmental laws. Congress has a clear choice: protect our nation’s wildlife heritage or sacrifice it for short-term interests. Vote NO on H.R. 1897. Stand with science. Stand with the American people who overwhelmingly support the ESA. And stand for the simple truth that extinction is forever — and Congress has a duty to prevent it.