July 29, 2026 — A pair of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a bill that would reverse the federal government’s decision to roll back the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to exclude habitat destruction.
“Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act to prevent extinction – not to document it after the damage has already been done,” U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) said in a release. “For more than 50 years, our nation’s protections have reflected a basic legal, scientific, and commonsense truth: When habitat destruction actually kills or injures protected wildlife, that destruction is harm. The administration’s rule would erase that longstanding safeguard through regulatory action and leave vulnerable species exposed at the precise moment the law is intended to protect them.”