GOP Sen Threatens Trump’s Nominations Over Conservation Policy That Inflamed Property Owners

Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer put a hold on “any and all” of President Donald Trump’s nominees until the administration agrees to change a wetland conservation policy, his office confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) abandoned its planned changes to a wetland conservation policy intended to protect waterfowl habitats, which prevents farmers from installing underground agricultural drainage tiles near protected federal easements. Cramer’s hold could delay the White House’s effort to install Project 2025 author Dennis Kirk as the next inspector general at the Interior Department and others nominated to serve at the Health and Human Services Department and the National Science Foundation, according to Politico’s E&E News.

Cramer expressed frustration with the FWS’ decision to keep the current protection in place, arguing that they impede landowner and private property rights.

“Frankly, I am stunned,” Cramer said in a statement obtained by the DCNF. “The blind defense of a Biden rule favored by environmental extremists at the expense of farmers confounds me, particularly at a time when our ag producers are hurting so badly. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from limited traffic in the Strait of Hormuz along with lost international markets have put farmers on their heels. Now they can’t even count on the administration to defend them against radical environmental activists who are advocating for the feds to take more of their land.”

“I am also suspicious of the timing of this action, coming immediately after I agreed to vote for a wealth manager to be the Assistant Secretary of Interior that oversees these issues,” Cramer continued. “Even though he admitted to knowing nothing about waterfowl easements in North Dakota, I was fooled into believing as a business person he was going reform regulations, not support Biden’s. My farmers are furious and so am I. There won’t be another nominee confirmed until something changes.”

A U.S. senator can place a hold on nominations through an informal Senate practice, which allows lawmakers to tell party leaders they will object to moving the nominee forward by unanimous consent. The informal procedural tool halts fast-track approval, forcing the majority leader to dedicate lengthy floor time to formal voting procedures to confirm the nominee.

Since the 1970s, the FWS has purchased hundreds of thousands of acres of easements in the Midwest to conserve the region’s Prairie Pothole wetlands and protect waterfowl habitats, according to E&E News. In 2024, former President Joe Biden’s administration finalized a rule to ensure that farmers did not interfere with protected wetlands while draining soil.

The FWS initially planned to reduce farming restrictions after farmers argued the policy put a lot of farmland out of production, according to E&E News. The agency paused the Biden-era rule after tens of thousands of duck hunters, conservation groups and some lawmakers urged the administration to keep the existing rule in place to protect waterbird habitats.

Cramer argued on X that the rule does not “provide certainty to landowners” and that it is an “affront” to farmers.

“Don’t worry about the farmers whose land your successful campaign allows the government to keep stealing,” Cramer said in an Aug. 15 X post. “They just feed you when there aren’t enough ducks in your freezer. Low commodity prizes, lost foreign markets, inflated input costs in fuel and fertilizer, all make it hard for producers to keep their heads above your water. But that’s not your problem I guess.”

Some Republican and Democrat lawmakers celebrated the administration’s move, including Republican Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack.

“Thank you to [Interior] Secretary [Doug] Burgum for listening to our concerns—and those of countless Arkansans who value conservation,” Womack said on X.