House takes up Endangered Species Act overhaul

The legislation is expected to advance largely along party lines.

April 20, 2026

The House plans to take up Republican legislation this week to overhaul the bedrock environmental law meant to protect imperiled animals and plants from extinction.

The "ESA Amendments Act," H.R. 1897, from Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), would amend the more than 50-year-old Endangered Species Act. It's been a GOP priority for years.

The legislation includes requiring economic impact analyses to accompany listing decisions, capping attorneys’ fees awarded in endangered species lawsuits and clipping protections for species as they begin to recover.

After the committee advanced the bill at a markup last December, Westerman said the Endangered Species Act has been “weaponized” and that the changes would boost the law’s intent of providing species recovery. He has pointed out that few species leave the ESA list after being added to it.

But most Democrats and environmental advocates have countered that the legislation amounts to a gift to industry that would weaken protections for imperiled species. They also call the law a success.

"The bill is deeply harmful to wildlife," said ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) in December.

Reps. Adam Gray of California and Jared Golden of Maine were the only two Democrats to vote in favor of the legislation at that time. They often cross the aisle on environmental and other issues.

The House has pushed Endangered Species Act reforms in the past only for them to languish in the Senate, where threat of a filibuster means most legislation has to get bipartisan support.

Indeed a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing in March had lawmakers talking about potential bipartisan changes to how the law is implemented.

The Trump administration is already moving forward with proposed changes to ESA enforcement to get agencies closer to Westerman's vision of protecting species.

The House Rules Committee will meet Monday to discuss Westerman's bill, set parameters for debate and decide what amendments to make in order. Two proposed changes, from Rep. Don Beyer (R-Va.), would remove lawsuit provisions and add language to protect species from offshore drilling.

The administration in recent weeks convened a panel of officials — the so-called "God squad" — to exempt Gulf offshore drilling operations from Endangered Species Act requirements. Environmentalists are suing.


By:  Ian M. Stevenson
Source: E&E News By POLITICO