Despite being a freshman House of Representatives member, Congressman Mike Flood (R-NE) desires to have an impact.
Formerly in the radio business, Flood was elected in a special election in summer 2022 to serve Nebraska’s First Congressional District. He recently sat down with me on my District of Conservation podcast to discuss various energy and conservation topics–from an eagle poaching case to Biden’s 30-by-30 initiative to serving in the powerful House Financial Services Committee.
Back in February, his district - particularly Stanton County, NE - garnered national attention after two illegal immigrants, both aged 20, killed an American Bald Eagle – our national bird - with the intention of eating it. Bald eagle recovery is a conservation success story. Due to recovery efforts, it was formally delisted in 2007. However, it is still protected under both Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Poaching - especially a federally-protected bird like the bald eagle - is unacceptable. Yet Biden’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), an agency more concerned with eco-grief counseling today over its mission of wildlife conservation, didn’t act until they were shamed into caring.
“When questioned about it, they [the assailants] said they were going to use the talons for like ornaments and then were going to eat the meat and showed complete disregard for not only our federal law, but our national bird,” explained Rep. Flood.
He said this egregious wildlife crime is a consequence of President Biden’s open border policies, noting, “While it's a snapshot, it's yet another example of why the Biden administration needs to reverse its open border policy, stop the flow of illegal immigration and build the border wall. We've got folks coming in that are shooting bald eagles with no regard for what it means in America—turning the talons into ornaments. I mean, that's disgusting.”
The Washington Free Beacon, who broke the story, reported federal charges will apply here.
“There is precedent for federal charges to be brought against bald eagle murderers. In June, a 79-year-old Tuscarawas County, Ohio, man pleaded guilty to killing a bald eagle while hunting groundhogs on his property. The man was forced to pay a $10,000 fine to the court and another $10,000 in restitution to the Fish and Wildlife Service. He was also barred from hunting for five years,” the report explained.
As of August, one of the two assailants has been formally charged with a misdemeanor Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act violation and will be charged on November 4th, 2023.The other assailant, however, has yet to face punishment.
Flood also discussed his inaugural FoxNews.com opinion-editorial where he discussed Biden’s newly unveiled Climate Corps and problematic 30-by-30 (or “America the Beautiful”) initiative that is largely inspired by the United Nations’ Agenda 2030.
“I have great hope for success in this battle. The fight against Biden’s 30x30 land grab started here in Nebraska. Early opposition raised awareness about the consequences of federal land controls,” the congressman wrote in his op-ed. “We don’t need the federal government to tell us how to steward our land and water. Instead, we need to empower America’s farmers and ranchers to pursue sustainable agricultural practices – the way they already have for generations.”
During our conversation, the former business owner lamented how federal agencies are overstepping their bounds through “promulgating a new rule that makes it more and more difficult for production agriculture.”
Agriculture, he conveyed to me, is the lifeblood of Nebraska—especially in his district.
“The best environmentalists are actually the farmers because that soil - that ground - is their number one investment that they never want to sell. They want generations from now to enjoy being on the family farm,” Flood said.
“What I see out of the Biden administration every single day—this Climate Corps that he wants to start styled after a New Deal era program, the 30-by-30 [initiative]—Governor Ricketts in Nebraska was the first real elected official in America to blow the whistle on this 30-by-30 and we need to because that's exactly what they're working to achieve.”
Rep. Flood also takes his involvement in the House Financial Services Committee, helmed by Chair and Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), very seriously. The committee is tasked with overseeing issues relating to the “economy, the banking system, housing, insurance, and securities and exchanges” particularly fighting the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement pretending to be a “free market” investing strategy.
For instance, the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is adamant about adopting and mandating small and medium-sized agribusiness assess “climate risk” in their operations - entities the SEC has no authority over - under a proposed Scope 3 (indirect and direct) emissions rule to “fight the climate crisis.”
Rep. Flood warned, ESG policies - especially mandating climate impact reporting - would impose more burdensome costs on producers like farmers and ranchers.
“The banking system needs to be about soundness and safety. And it needs to be about risks that affect financial integrity—not imposing new obligations that don't pencil out in the profit and loss.”