protect Maine’s lobstermen from new regulations related to the North Atlantic right whale until 2035
Extend the moratorium on new North Atlantic right whale regulations affecting Maine's lobster industry until 2035.
Occurrences
hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in quickly passing this bill into law
Maine’s lobstermen and the communities they support would get an extended reprieve from onerous new regulations related to the North Atlantic right whale until 2035 under a bill spearheaded by Congressmen Jared Golden (ME-02) and Mike Lawler (NY-17).
Evidence
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AP reported that the Trump administration backed Jared Golden's proposal to delay additional North Atlantic right whale protections until 2035. The story framed the effort as a proposed legislative change, not an enacted rule, and said the current federal pause still ran only until 2028.
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AP reported that NOAA planned to announce new, deregulatory changes to the existing right whale vessel-speed protections. That indicates federal rulemaking was still active and the broader protection regime had not been replaced by any 2035 moratorium.
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NOAA says it is planning late-2026 and early-2027 Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team meetings to develop entanglement risk reduction recommendations, with a final rule in place by December 31, 2028, as directed by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
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NMFS published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking considering deregulatory changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule; comments were due June 2, 2026.
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AP reported that Golden's proposal would push new federal right whale protections to 2035 and that the White House supported the plan if it passed Congress.
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AP reported that Golden and fishing organizations asked Congress to extend the existing right whale rules pause from 2028 to 2035; the proposal originated with Rep. Nick Begich.
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NOAA's 2021 final rule amended the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to reduce right whale mortality and serious injury in Northeast lobster and Jonah crab trap/pot fisheries.
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NMFS withdrew an August 2022 proposed vessel-strike rule because it lacked time to finalize it, while existing North Atlantic right whale vessel speed regulations remained in effect.
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On September 1, 2026, the House Clerk recorded Roll Call 291 on H.R. 9436 as an On Passage vote. The measure passed 219-196, and Jared Golden (D-ME) voted Yea.
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GovInfo's reported House text lists H.R. 9436 as introduced by Michael Lawler for himself and Jared Golden of Maine. Section 2 amends the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 by replacing 2028 with 2035.
Assessments
Golden materially advanced the specific promised policy in the current federal term: H.R. 9436 would replace the current 2028 pause with 2035, names Golden as a cosponsor, and passed the House on September 1, 2026 with Golden voting yes. However, the evidence does not show Senate passage, presidential signature, or any enacted federal action extending the lobster-related right whale regulatory moratorium to 2035. The controlling federal schedule therefore remains 2028, so the promise is not fully delivered.
As of July 2, 2026, the promised 2035 moratorium had not been enacted. The existing congressional pause on new North Atlantic right whale lobster-related rules still ran only to 2028, and NOAA continued to plan rulemaking on that schedule. Golden did materially advocate for a 2035 extension during his current House term, including backing a concrete congressional proposal with fishing groups and receiving reported White House support, so effort credit is warranted. Because he remains in office and the proposal had not clearly failed or passed, the proper status is unresolved rather than delivered or never.
Golden backed a proposal to extend the North Atlantic right whale moratorium to 2035, but the evidence shows it remained a proposal rather than enacted law or rule. The existing federal pause was still only through 2028, and NOAA rulemaking was ongoing, so the promised outcome had not been delivered as of the evidence date.
As of 2026-06-11, Golden has materially pursued this promise by backing and proposing legislation to extend the existing federal pause on new North Atlantic right whale regulations from 2028 to 2035, and that proposal drew White House support. But the available evidence still describes the 2035 extension as a proposal only; the operative federal pause remains through 2028, and NOAA/right-whale rulemaking had not been replaced by an enacted 2035 moratorium. Because Golden is still in office and the outcome has not yet been completed or definitively failed, this is best scored as unresolved rather than delivered or never.