You're not excusing them from following the law, you're just trying to make the law work so that they can take care of the levee systems or the dams or whatever it is.

Obviously, we're approaching this differently than we have in the past, ... trying to deal with a broken system.

Has failed to produce the goal all Americans share the recovery of endangered species.

The purpose of this bill is to protect my private property owners, ... and to make them willing participants in protecting species and their habitat.

The Endangered Species Act is in desperate need of an update, ... It has hurt species recovery by leading to the trend we all know as 'shoot, shovel and shut up.' And it has hurt family farmers and ranchers by taking their property away.

Tired and inane rhetoric.

I am willing to do whatever we can to put the focus on recovery and do what we can to recover these species as long as my property owners are protected.

This is a completely different approach.

[The bill] will place a new emphasis on recovery and eliminates dysfunctional critical habitat provisions, ... It's about a new era in protecting species and protecting habitat at the same time we protect property owners.