The House approved legislation Tuesday geared at preventing the spread of massive swamp rodents. Land bills also advanced.
H.R. 776, the “Nutria Eradication and Control Reauthorization Act,” passed 361-56. The legislation from Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.) would extend a 2003 law aimed at controlling populations of nutria, a massive and destructive rodent often found in marshlands.
Nutria, which are invasive, occupy wetland areas in California, Oregon, Maryland and Louisiana, but have been significantly culled from the 2003 program that the bill extends.
During floor debate, Harder said that nutria impact farmland, levies and drinking water. “Communities in California and across the country are in a war with these giant swamp rats,” he said.