Representative Jeff Landry (R-LA) offered an amendment to H.R. 5326, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013, which would prohibit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from using funds to implement a rule requiring turtle excluder devices in fishing vessels. Turtle excluder devices protect threatened and endangered sea turtles by reducing the likelihood that they are accidentally captured in fishing nets. The proposed rule is necessary to address high levels of sea turtle mortality in the Southeast - more than 3,500 threatened and endangered sea turtles washed up dead in the Gulf and South Atlantic in 2011 alone. On May 9, the House approved the Landry amendment by a vote of 218-201 (House roll call vote 236). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. H.R. 5326 subsequently passed the House, but the Senate took no action on this legislation and the amendment was not included in the spending measure maintaining current funding levels for the federal government through March 27, 2013, which President Obama signed into law on September 28.