Government Shutdown + Big Extinction Bill = Disaster for Wildlife

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Endangered Species Coalition celebrates the momentum we’ve built together in stopping the House’s Big Extinction Bill (H.R. 4754) from advancing in September. Our collective organizing proved that people power can delay even the most dangerous attacks on the Endangered Species Act. But the fight is far from over, and now, another manufactured crisis threatens to undo this progress.

At the end of the day on September 30, federal funding for the government and its agencies expired. President Trump and the Congressional Majority leaders failed to lead bipartisan negotiations that would avert a government shutdown. This shutdown is also the next phase of an ongoing pattern of abuse under the Trump administration.

A government shutdown doesn’t just close offices in Washington, D.C. It shuts down protections for communities, wildlife, and the places we love. During a government shutdown, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service are forced to suspend their work safeguarding endangered species and protecting National Wildlife Refuges. That means migrating birds, grizzly bears, sea turtles, whales, and more lose critical support for recovery, right when they need them most. Restoration projects that make coastal communities more resilient to storms and flooding are halted. Local tourism tied to National Wildlife Refuges takes a hit, and community partnerships and conservation grants that support jobs are frozen. In short, a shutdown hands polluters a free pass and leaves wildlife and families more vulnerable. It puts lives, livelihoods, and irreplaceable habitats at risk.

The House’s Big Extinction Bill and a government shutdown are two sides of the same coin. Both undermine the Endangered Species Act, block protections for wolves, grizzly bears, bats, and prairie birds, and strip away the safeguards our communities and ecosystems depend on. By holding federal funding hostage and advancing poison-pill riders, Congressional Majority leaders and the Trump administration are threatening to accelerate extinction while jeopardizing the well-being of coastal and rural communities alike.

There is a path forward. The Senate’s bill (S. 2431) to fund the Department of the Interior, which includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reflects a bipartisan negotiation that ensures federal agencies can do their part to keep endangered species protected and steward nature for the next year. Most important is what the bill does not do: it does not remove protections for gray wolves and grizzly bears, and it does not include any other new poison-pill riders. At the end of July, the Senate’s bill passed out of committee with the support of 11 Democrat Senators and 13 Republican Senators who serve on the committee. To reopen the Department of Interior, Congress could pass the Senate’s bill and fully reject the partisan, damaging House’s Big Extinction Bill.

Our message is clear: Americans do not support abandoning endangered species or the communities tied to them. We will continue organizing, calling, and rising together to defeat the House’s Big Extinction Bill, and we will not let a government shutdown be used as a weapon to dismantle protections for wildlife and people.

Now is the time to keep the pressure on. Join us, our partners, and thousands of voices across the country as we demand Congress fund the government without attacks on wildlife, and as we defend the Endangered Species Act from extinction itself. Together, we can and must, keep the wild alive.