IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 881 
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 21, 2023 
Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. THOMPSON of 
California, Mr. NADLER, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. 
SMITH of Washington, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 
TITUS, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. 
MAGAZINER, and Mr. SOTO) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973. 
Whereas Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in De-
cember 1973 by a vote of 92–0 in the Senate and 355– 
4 in the House of Representatives; 
Whereas President Richard Nixon, upon signing the Endan-
gered Species Act into law, stated, ‘‘Nothing is more 
priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich 
array of animal life with which our country has been 
blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to schol-
ars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a 
vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans [and] 
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•HRES 881 IH 
which we hold in trust to countless future generations of 
our fellow citizens.’’; 
Whereas decades of polling have shown strong bipartisan sup-
port for the Endangered Species Act, with more than 4 
out of 5 Americans in favor of it; 
Whereas the Endangered Species Act is one of the most suc-
cessful conservation laws ever enacted by any country, 
and 99 percent of species protected under the Act have 
been saved from extinction, including the humpback 
whale, grizzly bear, and bald eagle; 
Whereas thanks to the Endangered Species Act, gray whales 
still swim our coasts, peregrine falcons still soar our 
skies, and polar bears still roam the Arctic tundra; 
Whereas the Act is currently helping protect and recover 
more than 2,000 species of plants and animals that are 
threatened or endangered; 
Whereas section 2(b) of the Endangered Species Act incor-
porates habitat conservation by stating that one of the 
purposes of the Act is ‘‘to provide a means whereby the 
ecosystems upon which endangered species and threat-
ened species depend may be conserved’’; 
Whereas the Endangered Species Act provides added benefits 
to people by maintaining healthy natural systems that 
provide us with clean air and water, food, medicines, and 
other benefits that we all need to live healthy lives; 
Whereas the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on 
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services published a study in 
2019 that estimated 25 percent of assessed taxa of plants 
and animals and 10 percent of insects, which account for 
75 percent of all species, could be threatened with extinc-
tion; 
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Whereas, globally, 1,000,000 animal and plant species face 
extinction within the coming decades, and millions more 
are declining as habitat loss, climate change, wildlife ex-
ploitation, pollution, and other human activities continue 
to threaten their survival; 
Whereas North America alone has lost nearly 3,000,000,000 
birds since 1970, which is more than 1 in 4 birds that 
have disappeared from the landscape in a mere half a 
century, and in that same timeframe, global wildlife pop-
ulations have declined by an average of 69 percent; 
Whereas, in the United States, nearly half of all ecosystems 
are at risk of range-wide collapse; 
Whereas, as of October 2023, a total of 2,363 species of ani-
mals and plants were listed as either endangered or 
threatened, and 1,668 of all listed species occur in the 
United States and its territories, and the remainder (695 
species) occur solely in other countries; 
Whereas the unraveling of the natural world remains a fun-
damental threat to the well-being of all humanity, which 
depends on millions of species and the countless services 
that the web of life provides, and each extinction brings 
closer the collapse of these planetary life-support systems, 
including carbon sequestration, pollination, water purifi-
cation, oxygen production, and disease regulation; 
Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
found that climate change has caused local species losses, 
increases in disease (high confidence), and mass mor-
tality events of plants and animals (very high con-
fidence), resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions 
(medium confidence), ecosystem restructuring, increases 
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