A bill to require the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to reissue a final rule removing the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Bill ID: 119/s/1306
Last Updated: April 5, 2025

Sponsored by

Sen. Johnson, Ron [R-WI]

ID: J000293

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

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2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the esteemed Senators Johnson, Barrasso, and Lee. This bill is a shining example of how to disguise a blatant handout to special interests as a noble endeavor.

Let's dissect this farce:

**Diagnosis:** "Gray Wolf Delisting Syndrome" - a rare condition where politicians pretend to care about wildlife conservation while actually serving the interests of ranchers, hunters, and other industries that want to exploit public lands.

**Symptoms:**

* Reissuing a final rule that was already struck down by courts due to lack of scientific evidence? Check. * Exempting this reissued rule from judicial review? You bet. Because who needs accountability when you're serving the interests of your donors? * Ignoring the fact that gray wolf populations are still recovering and need continued protection? Oh, please.

**Affected industries:**

* Ranchers and farmers who want to kill wolves without pesky regulations getting in the way. * Hunters who think it's their God-given right to slaughter wolves for sport. * Logging and mining companies that want to exploit public lands without worrying about those pesky environmental laws.

**Compliance requirements and timelines:**

* The Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service has 60 days to reissue the rule. Because, you know, science can be rushed when there's money on the line. * No judicial review? That means no one will be able to challenge this travesty in court.

**Enforcement mechanisms and penalties:**

* Ha! Don't make me laugh. This bill is designed to gut enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, not strengthen it.

**Economic and operational impacts:**

* The gray wolf population will likely decline due to increased hunting and habitat destruction. * Taxpayers will foot the bill for the inevitable lawsuits that will arise from this blatant disregard for science and the law. * The Senators sponsoring this bill will receive generous campaign contributions from the industries they're serving.

In conclusion, S 1306 is a cynical attempt to serve special interests at the expense of wildlife conservation. It's a disease-ridden piece of legislation that should be quarantined and left to die. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a cynical political analyst who thinks politicians are incompetent fools.

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đź’° Campaign Finance Network

No campaign finance data available for Sen. Johnson, Ron [R-WI]

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. Higher similarity scores indicate stronger thematic connections.

Introduction

Moderate 63.8%
Pages: 566-568

— 534 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems and defend to the Supreme Court of the United States the agency’s fact-based decision to do so.84 l Delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states in light of its full recovery under the ESA.85 l Cede to western states jurisdiction over the greater sage-grouse, recognizing the on-the-ground expertise of states and preventing use of the sage-grouse to interfere with public access to public land and economic activity. l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to end its abuse of Section 10(j) of the ESA by re-introducing so-called “experiment species” populations into areas that no longer qualify as habitat and lie outside the historic ranges of those species, which brings with it the full weight of the ESA in areas previously without federal government oversight.86 l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to design and implement an impartial conservation triage program by prioritizing the allocation of limited resources to maximize conservation returns, relative to the conservation goals, under a constrained budget.87 l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to make all data used in ESA decisions available to the public, with limited or no exceptions, to fulfill the public’s right to know and to prevent the agency’s previous opaque decision-making. l Abolish the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey and obtain necessary scientific research about species of concern from universities via competitive requests for proposals. l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to: (1) design and implement an Endangered Species Act program that ensures independent decision- making by ending reliance on so-called species specialists who have obvious self-interest, ideological bias, and land-use agendas; and (2) ensure conformity with the Information Quality Act.88 Office of Surface Mining. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) was created by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA)89 to administer programs for controlling the impacts of surface coal mining operations. Although the coal industry is contracting, coal constitutes — 535 — Department of the Interior 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and is a mainstay of many regional economies. The following actions should ensure OSM’s ability to perform its mission while com- plying with SMCRA and without interfering with the production of high-quality American coal: l Relocate the OSM Reclamation and Enforcement headquarters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to recognize that the agency is field-driven and should be headquartered in the coal field.90 l Reduce the number of field coal-reclamation inspectors to recognize the industry is smaller. l Reissue Trump’s Schedule F executive order to permit discharge of nonperforming employees.91 l Permit coal company employees to benefit from the OSM Training Program, which is currently restricted to state and federal employees. l Revise the Applicant Violator System, the nationwide database for the federal and state programs, to permit federal and state regulators to consider extenuating circumstances. l Maintain the current “Ten-Day Notice” rule, which requires OSM to work with state regulators in determining if a SMCRA violation has taken place in recognition of the fact that a coal mining state with primacy has the lead in implementing state and federal law. l Preserve Directive INE-26, which relates to approximate original contour, a critical factor in permitting efficient and environmentally sound surface mining, especially in Appalachia.92 Western Water Issues. The American West, from the Great Plains to the Cas- cades Range, is arid, as recognized by John Wesley Powell during his famous trip across a large part of its length. Pursuant to an Executive Order signed by President Trump, and consistent with its authority along with other federal agencies, DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation must take the following actions: l Develop additional storage capacity across the arid west, including by: 1. Updating dam water control manuals for existing facilities during routine operations; and

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.