Congress will vote to expand God Squad reach and gut endangered species protections – on Earth Day

PoliticsCongress will vote to expand ‘God Squad’ reach and gut endangered species protections – on Earth DayThe ESA has prevented the extinction of 99% of protected species Julia Musto in New York Tuesday 21 April 2026 17:33 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2961892","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/politics/earth-day-2026-congress-endangered-species-act-b2961892.html","title":"Congress will vote to expand ‘God Squad’ reach and gut endangered species protections"}}CloseEndangered Sumatran elephant bornFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_Breaking_Newsletter","regTitle":"Breaking News","subscriptionGroup":"breaking_news","subscriptionGroupId":"ea81aa66-1d12-4313-9b4e-6f20b0117b8f","type":"breaking_news","pathPrefix":["/news/uk/crime","/news/world","/topic/race","/topic/racism","/topic/race-and-ethnicity","/topic/diversity","/topic/ethnic-minorities","/topic/muslim","/topic/black","/topic/black-british","/topic/african-americans","/topic/systemic-racism","/topic/bame"],"title":"For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails","mobileTitle":"Sign up to our free breaking news emails","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/breakingNews1_1.png","label":"I would like to receive breaking news alerts by email","newsletterKey":"receiveIndyBreakingNews","regSourceSection":"Politics","regSource...