of the Pet and Livestock Protection Act. NCBA also worked to advance the companion legislation in the Senate through unanimous consent; however, the effort was blocked, despite broad support from livestock producers and rural stakeholders who continue to face the real-world impacts this legislation seeks to address. NCBA will continue working to advance the bill as a standalone measure or secure its inclusion in a larger legislative package.
Despite these setbacks and the limited number of legislative days remaining, NCBA is not slowing down. This year, NCBA helped establish the Sportsmen-Ranchers Wolf Coalition, bringing together several organizations in Washington, D. C., to pool resources, highlight the wide-ranging impacts of wolf depredation on livestock and wildlife, and leverage relationships across Congress to advance this critical legislation.
NCBA continues to work on the ESA Amendments Act of 2025, which would reform many of the issues with the current framework of the ESA. The amendment would:
• Create flexibility and provide relief from unscientific listing timelines.
• Codify Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances and mandates they be taken into account when making listing decisions.
• Streamline the permitting process for Section 10 voluntary conservation agreements.
• Require the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service( Services) to establish objective, incremental recovery goals for threatened species, ease regulations as recovery goals are met, and provide for state management of species once all recovery goals are met in preparation for delisting.
• Allow states to develop and submit recovery strategies for species that are candidates for listing or listed as threatened.
• Require the Services to act on five-year review determinations of listed species.
• Prohibit judicial review within the five-year monitoring period after a species is delisted.
• Give regulatory certainty that critical habitat will not be designated if a landowner is working to implement a land management plan that conserves the listed species in question.
• Require the Services to publicize the best scientific and commercial data available that are used as the basis for listing and critical habitat determinations.
• Require the Services to disclose all data used to make that determination to states affected by a listing or critical habitat determination.
• Require the Services to disclose all costs associated with ESA-related lawsuits to Congress.
• Place a cap on awarding attorney’ s fees to successful litigants in line with the Equal Access to Justice Act.
• Require an analysis of the economic impacts and national security impacts of each listing and critical habitat determination.
This vital work will continue as NCBA engages Congressional partners to advance legislation that benefits U. S. cattle producers.
DIRECTIONS 2026 NATIONAL CATTLEMEN 21