Spending Bill Freezes New Endangered Species Protections Moratorium Language Retained In Supplemental Defense Bill

Congressional Republicans’ latest attempt to put the brakes temporarily on parts of the Endangered Species Act may prove successful.

House and Senate negotiators who Wednesday concluded their dickering over a $3.1 billion supplemental defense spending bill agreed to keep in the bill language that would freeze new Endangered Species Act protections, said Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio.

With the Pentagon pressing urgently for the supplemental funding, the conference bill appears poised for rapid approval this week in both the House and Senate.

The money is needed to replenish Pentagon accounts used to pay for deployments to Haiti and elsewhere and President Clinton has promised deep spending cuts unless the bill is sent to his desk swiftly.

“The ESA moratorium is a top priority,” said Bonilla, who as a defense supplemental conferee fought to keep the freeze in the bill.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Slade Gorton, R-Wash., last month successfully attached the moratorium language to the defense supplemental bill approved by the Senate.

But the language faced a tenuous future in conference committee because unlike the Senate, the House has strict rules about what can be attached to appropriations bills. The moratorium also wasn’t included in the House-passed defense spending measure.

Thirty-nine of the Senate’s 46 Democrats - including Washington Sen. Patty Murray - had fought Sen. Hutchison’s moratorium, asking conferees to keep it out of the final bill. They argued that a freeze would have “many negative and unintended consequences.”

Opponents also contend some vulnerable species already near extinction could die out under a moratorium. A freeze would prevent the government from listing any of the 118 plant and animal species now under consideration for protection.

The Hutchison measure would put in place a six-month moratorium on new listings under the Endangered Species Act. It strips $1.5 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s current budget to prevent the agency from any new listings before Sept. 30.

Supporters argue the timeout would give Congress time to rewrite the 1973 act free from the inflamed rhetoric that often surrounds new listings.

The Endangered Species Act was due to be renewed in 1993 but the Clinton administration and environmentalists resisted bringing it back before Congress, concerned that it would be gutted.

Republicans want to rewrite the legislation to put in place compensation for landowners whose property values drop because of protections.

The Clinton administration has proposed modifications to address some of the concerns, but generally contends the act is flexible enough.