PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon's lone Republican Congressman Greg Walden helped convince the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday to approve a plan to remove all protections for the species at the federal level.

The proposal cleared the chamber Wednesday in a 223-201 vote and now heads to the Senate. It was introduced Monday by Walden and Washington state Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse as an amendment to a large federal appropriations funding package.

The plan would enable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward with its proposal three years ago to delist the gray wolf the under the federal Endangered Species Act by 2017. Population management would instead be at the discretion of the lower 48 states.

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