A Republican from Louisiana and a Democrat from California are coming together to help get rid of nutria

This April 18, 2019, photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a nutria in Merced County, Calif. With $10 million in state funding, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is preparing to deploy new tactics in its efforts to eradicate nutria. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

by: Michael Scheidt

Posted: Jul 30, 2020 / 03:15 PM AST

Updated: Jul 30, 2020 / 03:45 PM AST

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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – So who thinks this bill is one that everyone can get behind?

The Nutria Eradication and Control Act is in place to help places like Louisiana that have been hurt by the invasive species.

Senator’s Kennedy and Feinstein are coming together to make an amendment to this legislation.

If this bill passed, the states in the Nutria Eradication Program would have access to an extra $8 million a year.

“Louisiana’s wetlands protect our state from hurricanes and other serious storms. For years, nutria have devoured miles of our marshes, and some areas have no chance of growing back. This bill would help prevent these invasive swamp rats from further destroying Louisiana’s marshland,” said Kennedy.

The goal of this bill is to get rid of nutria.

“The explosive population growth of the nutria rodent could overwhelm our farms and wetlands if we don’t take aggressive action now. In California, there could be as many as 250,000 nutria within five years that could cause more than $1.2 billion a year in agriculture losses and eradication costs. Our bill will make all states eligible for federal funds to control this invasive species and stop its spread before we lose control of the situation,” said Feinstein.