Senate votes to rebuke Biden administration over wildlife rules

Nicky Robertson and Kristin Wilson, CNN

The Senate voted Thursday to undo Biden administration changes to two Trump administration wildlife rules — one governing what a habitat definition is, and one on reclassifying a wildlife species.

The resolutions would need to pass in the House before being sent to President Joe Biden’s desk, and the president has already threatened to veto both. A veto override would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress, which is not expected to happen. But passage in the Senate of the measures delivers a bipartisan rebuke to the president.

The measures, under the Congressional Review Act, only needed a simple majority to pass in the Senate

Moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin voted with his Republican colleagues for both resolutions. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, joined the Republicans on the habitat definition, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, voted with Republicans on reclassifying a wildlife species.

Eighty-nine-year-old Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who returned to the Senate on Wednesday after a prolonged absence due to shingles, voted with Democrats opposing both resolutions.

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