mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. chairman , i rise to deal with the section of the manager 's amendment that covers the manatees . 
buried in this manager 's amendment in dry language is a contest between florida developers on the one hand and florida manatees on the other . 
in this republican congress , guess who wins , the developers or the manatees ? 
it is not even close . 
this is an unprecedented move to exempt a single type of activity , dock-building , from a key provision of the marine mammal protection act . 
after losing in court , some boaters and marine contractors have come to congress asking for special favors so they can continue their development without addressing the impacts on the endangered manatee . 
it is not only bad policy , but it also undermines recovery efforts by the state of florida and the fish and wildlife service . 
by way of background , this section would allow those applying for dock permits to simply prove that their activities would not , quote-unquote , jeopardize , would not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered and threatened marine mammal species as mandated by the endangered species act , section 7. today , under existing law they must prove that their activities would have only a negligible impact on these species as mandated by the marine mammal protection act , section 101 . 
this simple change in wording lowers our national standard for protection of this well-loved species . 
why ? 
because no single dock is likely to jeopardize manatees , but a whole succession of docks is likely to do exactly that . 
this amendment clearly targets manatees in florida , but we really have no idea what kind of precedent or implications this would have for other critically endangered marine mammals . 
now , it did not take long for the developers to get here . 
they lost a lawsuit on july 13 , 2005 , against the fish and wildlife service in which the court found that the marine mammal protection act does in fact apply to dock-building activities that would lead to incidental take of marine mammals , and specifically manatees in florida 's inland waters . 
this amendment , therefore , is rushed into this particular bill , just part of the manager 's amendment ; it would undermine the process that has gone on for several years that the state of florida and the fish and wildlife service have engaged in to recover manatees in florida . 
it would completely short-circuit the progress made by the state and those federal agencies . 
finally , the minority and majority have already reached agreements and passed a version of the marine mammal protection act out of the committee on resources , and this amendment flies directly in the face of that process . 
so here is the situation : florida developers are not pleased by a court case in july . 
they rush in here , they get a provision in this bill to make sure that they win and the florida manatees lose . 
bad policy , bad politics . 
