Latest action: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 618.
Committee has approved the bill (usually with amendments) and sent it back to the full chamber.
The committee voted to send the bill to the floor of the full chamber. The Senate Majority Leader schedules a floor vote.
Next: Passed One Chamber
The other chamber (Senate or House) repeats the committee + floor-vote process
Congress votes to reject a rule that changes how the Endangered Species Act defines animal harm.
The problem
The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA issued a new rule redefining harm to endangered species. Critics say it weakens protections, while supporters say it clarifies the law.
The proposal
This joint resolution uses congressional disapproval power to reject the agencies' rule on the definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act.
The impact
Environmental groups, developers, and federal agencies face uncertainty about endangered species protections and what activities count as harmful.
Rejecting the rule keeps stricter definitions of harm in place, offering greater protection for endangered species. This preserves existing legal standards that have guided conservation efforts for decades.
Blocking the new rule stops businesses and states from having to figure out new compliance rules. It maintains the status quo that people already understand.
Stricter harm definitions help prevent species extinction by limiting activities that damage habitats or kill endangered animals. This supports long-term ecosystem health.
The original rule aimed to clarify vague harm definitions. Rejecting it keeps the law confusing, making enforcement inconsistent. Different agencies may interpret rules differently.
Companies face continued uncertainty about what activities are legal. This may force expensive legal reviews and compliance measures that clearer rules could have prevented.
The new rule reflected updated scientific understanding of how harm affects species. Rejecting it prevents the law from evolving with new conservation knowledge and methods.
Federal agencies lose authority to update their own rules based on experience and data. This removes tools agencies need to manage species more effectively.
Generated by AI from the bill text. Not a prediction and not legal or policy advice. The percentage is the model's own rating of each item — self-reported, and not a measure of how accurate it is.
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Individual contributions, grouped by employer · FEC
Where their individual donors work · 2026 cycle
Money from people who work there, not from the company. Not tied to this bill.
Itemized individual contributions via FEC, grouped by the employer each contributor self-reported. Companies and unions cannot contribute to federal candidates from their treasuries, so these totals are money from people who work at an employer — never from the organization itself. They are campaign contributions covering a full election cycle and are not connected to this bill.
Senate LDA lobbying disclosures
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