“I’ve come to learn of my time in Congress, that people support reform, as long as it doesn’t change anything. The difficulty with the Endangered Species Act is it is failing endangered species,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations committee.  “Anytime you start getting t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and jokes about a law, you know you’ve got a problem.”

          “I brought along a shovel today, because the biggest joke in Montana is ‘shoot, shovel, and shut-up,’” Rehberg said as he raised a shovel in his hand on the House floor. 

           “The problem is, there are those that want to protect species.  They don’t want them to become extinct.  They want to do the right thing,” Rehberg said.  “But this Congress, many years ago, created a disincentive to do the right thing, rather than an incentive.  If you learn anything about public administration or government – when you create a disincentive, usually you’re pretty successful.”

          According to data compiled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, less than one percent of the roughly 1300 species listed have recovered since ESA was first enacted more than 30 years ago. Only six percent of all listed species are classified as “improving." TESRA fixes the law’s long-outstanding problems by:

·        focusing on species recovery

·        providing incentives

·        increasing openness and accountability

·        strengthening scientific standards

·        creating bigger roles for state and local governments

·        protecting private property owners, and

·        eliminating dysfunctional critical habitat designations

          “We are not saving the species.  We need to – we need to get off the dime.  We need to finally solve this issue.  Everybody recognizes it’s broke,” Rehberg said.  “We can no longer use the excuse that it’s just ‘not exactly what we want.’  It’s time to end the joke of ‘shoot, shovel, and shut-up.’”

          “I want to thank Chairman Pombo for giving us an opportunity to vote on a reform package that does what we need to do, and that’s save the species of this country,” Rehberg said.

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