The House passed U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s bill that would extend a pause on new right whale protection rules to 2035, sending Maine lobstermen’s top legislative priority to the Senate.
The Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act passed 219-196 on Tuesday. Golden and Rep. Chellie Pingree, Maine’s two Democratic members, voted yes, but the tally leaned heavily Republican. Only 10 Democrats voted yes and two Republicans voted no.
Golden introduced the bill with Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, whose backing let the retiring congressman from Maine’s 2nd District frame the win as a rare bipartisan product. The Republican running to replace him, former Gov. Paul LePage, touted the measure that is supported by fishing groups and virtually all Maine politicians.
The bill would extend a pause on new right whale rules that Congress first enacted in 2022 with support from Maine’s full congressional delegation and Gov. Janet Mills, after federal regulators proposed new gear restrictions, including ropeless fishing gear and area closures, based on what Golden’s office has called worst-case modeling. That pause will expire in 2028; the new bill would push it to 2035.
“We don’t have to choose between a lobster industry that is the lifeblood of communities in Maine and protecting the right whale,” Golden said. “The truth is we can do both. Maine fishermen are already proving it.”
On the House floor Tuesday, Golden argued Congress needed to act now, even with the current pause not expiring until 2028, because regulators are already drafting the next round of rules and cannot incorporate newer whale data unless lawmakers move first.
Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the Natural Resources Committee’s top Democrat, rejected Golden’s numbers on the floor, saying the bill would wrongly give the fishery a 13-year exemption from the federal laws protecting endangered species and marine mammals.
“That’s not honoring these environmental protection laws. That’s not upholding them. That’s gutting them,” Huffman said.
President Donald Trump endorsed the extension in May, with the White House telling Congress in a formal policy statement that Trump would sign the bill if it reached his desk. That support could help it move in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and may ultimately need to be attached to a larger spending package to become law.
Golden, who announced last November he would not seek a fifth term, has leaned on the lobster fight as a defining piece of his legacy in the seat.
Former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican who has emerged as the front-runner for the seat in a race with State Auditor Matt Dunlap, said Tuesday night that he had personally pressed Republican leaders to bring the bill to a vote after learning it needed more support to pass.
“When I was made aware of the bill and the need to gain more support to get it across the finish line, I was proud to step up and urge Republican leaders to get this to a vote,” LePage said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation will protect Maine fishermen, their families, and the coastal communities that depend on the lobster industry.”
It now awaits action in the Senate, where Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has separately secured tens of millions of dollars in recent years for whale-related research meant to inform the same rulemaking process the bill would delay.