H.R. 130 (119th)Bill Overview

Trust the Science Act

Animals|Administrative law and regulatory proceduresAnimals
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 3, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to reissue, within 60 days, the November 3, 2020 final rule removing the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the Endangered Species Act list. The bill also bars judicial review of that reissuance.

Why people may split

Progressives stress species protection and opposes removing judicial review

Watch point

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a narrowly drafted substantive change that precisely directs an agency to reissue a identified final rule within a short deadline and eliminates judicial review of that action.

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to reissue, within 60 days, the November 3, 2020 final rule removing the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the Endangered Species Act list.

The bill also bars judicial review of that reissuance.

Passage30/100

Narrow but polarizing; low fiscal cost helps, but controversy over species protection and barred judicial review makes final enactment unlikely without strong cross-chamber consensus.

CredibilityPartially aligned

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a narrowly drafted substantive change that precisely directs an agency to reissue a identified final rule within a short deadline and eliminates judicial review of that action. The mechanism is specific and the responsible party and timeline are named, but the text omits fiscal, procedural, and oversight details common for actions with wider statutory and administrative effects.

Contention78/100

Progressives stress species protection and opposes removing judicial review

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens50% / 50%
States · Federal agenciesLocal governments

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • StatesRestores state authority to manage wolf populations without ESA constraints.
  • Federal agenciesReduces federal permitting and compliance requirements tied to ESA protections.
  • Federal agenciesMay lower federal agency workload and administrative costs related to ESA oversight.
Likely burdened
  • Potential burdenRemoves judicial review, eliminating a legal check on administrative delisting decisions.
  • Local governmentsCould increase risk of localized population declines or reduced genetic connectivity.
  • Potential burdenMay raise livestock predation incidents and associated economic losses for ranchers.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

Progressives stress species protection and opposes removing judicial review
Progressive10%

Views the bill as a rollback of federal endangered-species protections that could harm gray wolf conservation.

Opposes the bar on judicial review as an undemocratic removal of legal oversight.

Likely resistant
Centrist45%

Sees some rationale for delisting if science supports it, but is worried the bill forces a specific past rule regardless of current data.

Concerned about the short 60-day deadline and prohibition on judicial review.

Split reaction
Conservative90%

Likely supportive because it returns wolf management authority to states, reduces federal regulation, and prevents litigation delays by banning judicial review.

Sees the bill as enforcing a prior administrative decision.

Leans supportive
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood30/100

Narrow but polarizing; low fiscal cost helps, but controversy over species protection and barred judicial review makes final enactment unlikely without strong cross-chamber consensus.

Scope and complexity
24%
Scopenarrow
24%
Complexitylow
Why this could stall
  • Level of support in the Senate
  • Executive branch willingness to implement
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

Progressives stress species protection and opposes removing judicial review

Narrow but polarizing; low fiscal cost helps, but controversy over species protection and barred judicial review makes final enactment unli…

Unlocked analysis

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a narrowly drafted substantive change that precisely directs an agency to reissue a identified final rule within a short deadline and eliminates judicial review of…

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis