House Republicans passed a measure Thursday that would repeal the administration’s decision to place California’s longfin smelting (finger-sized fish) on the list of endangered species.

House members passed a resolution proposed by California Rep. Doug Lamalfa (D-Richvale) to follow the party by 216-195 vote. The resolution now involves the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We want to stop the misleading decision of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the population of the San Francisco Bay Delta that Langfen smelted is endangered,” Lamalfa, who represents a rice-growing area in Northern California, said before the vote.

He said the agency's decision to declare the endangered fish last year was "unscientific" and said it made it more difficult to transport water from the Sacramento-Shandong Joaquin Delta to farmers.

The resolution was condemned by Democrats, who said it violated years of research by science and federal wildlife officials.

“They are turning a small fish into a very large scapegoat, pretending it will provide real support to farmers in some way,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-san Rafael) said.

"The Langfen population has dropped by more than 99% since the 1980s," Hoffman said. "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service follows law, data and science, just as Congress expected."

this solve According to the 1996 regulations, the 2024 decision of the Bureau of Fish and Wildlife will be abolished Congressional Review Actwhich allows Congress to review and oppose the rules adopted by the institutions in some cases.

Next, the Senate will consider the measure, with opponents saying they are worried that it can pass as well. If approved and signed by President Trump, it would be an action by Congress to take its powers under the 1996 law to deprive the protection of species under the Endangered Species Act.

Longfin smelter lives in bays and estuaries along the Pacific Coast, and is the sixth fish species in the estuary of the San Francisco Bay and will be added to the federal list of endangered species. The fish used to fill the bay in the bay, but federal wildlife officials Announce population End of extinction Confirm its decline sharply.

The agency's decision followed a long process that began with a 2007 petition filed by the environmental group and involved several lawsuits. The fish was listed as a threat in 2009 by California.

Environmental groups say the decline in Longfin smelter and other fish, including delta smelting and Chinook salmon, are linked to water management policies that reduce flows through the estuary and cause water quality to deteriorate.

"The resolution will essentially condemn Longfin in San Francisco Bay for smelling extinction," said Jon Rosenfield, the group's San Francisco Bay Chief Science Director. "Protections for removing this fish will also be against other dangerous fish, fisheries and clear water in the Delta."