Facing a court-ordered deadline of October 2015, the Department of the Interior on September 22, 2015, was forced by the US Congress just before the deadline, by adding language in the 2015 Appropriations bill to stop the listing, not to list the bird as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The language in the 2015 bill, "Prohibits funds from being used to write or issue rules pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and related to the sage-grouse."