Khunter
Well-known member
This from a news service.....hopefully some of it can be retooled and resubmitted.
Senate Republicans last night defeated a bill to promote hunting, angling and conservation on public lands, arguing that it runs afoul of spending limits set in the 2011 Budget Control Act.
The 50-44 procedural vote killed, for now, a package of 17 bills from Republicans and Democrats that enjoys strong support from sportsmen's, conservation and gun advocacy groups. The measure needed 60 votes to advance.
Republicans led by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that while S. 3525 would reduce the deficit by $5 million over the next decade -- due to additional revenue from the sale of duck hunting permits -- it would also raise spending by $140 million.
"The fundamentals of this bill are good," Sessions said on the floor last night, adding that he feels the budget violations could be easily fixed if members can find spending reductions elsewhere.
"At a time of unprecedented spending and unsustainable debt, low public confidence in Congress, should we not adhere to even the small spending limits that have been enacted?" he said.
The bill by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) included measures to conserve wetlands, expand funding for shooting ranges and extend a decade-old law that allows federal agencies to acquire sensitive habitats using revenue from the sales of lower-value federal lands, among other measures.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was the only Democrat to join 43 Republicans in opposing the bill. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was the only Republican to break party ranks.
Boxer before the vote said she was concerned with language barring U.S. EPA from regulating lead ammunition and fishing tackle, which she argued could poison wildlife and threaten humans who consume the animals. She said she also opposed language allowing polar bear carcasses to be imported from Canada.
"I believe this bill has many good provisions that will help preserve America's treasured natural resources, protect fish and wildlife and provide recreational opportunities for our families," she said. "Unfortunately, the bill also includes two provisions that threaten public health and could set back wildlife conservation efforts."
It is unclear whether party leaders will come to an agreement on how to fix the budget violations, and if so, when the bill will be brought back up for a vote.
"We'll try to figure out something," Tester said last night after the vote. "We've got to find $140 million basically somewhere in the budget, which isn't a lot, but we've still got to find it. And if we can, then we'll move forward. If we can't, then it will be dead."
Tester said the overall bill would save wildlife habitat and strengthen hunting and angling opportunities on public lands, which are the backbone of an outdoor economy valued at $600 billion annually, he said. Voting to uphold Sessions' point of order is the same as killing the bill, he said.
The senator said he is unsure whether to be optimistic about the bill's final passage. "I'm not near as confident as I was four or five hours ago," Tester said. "We're going to try our best to try to get it across the line."
Vaughn Collins, director of government affairs at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said that while bill advocates are tired and frustrated after last night's vote, he is confident Senate leaders will strike a resolution, given the bill's popularity nationwide.
"It sounds like there's an interest and appetite to bring this into compliance with the Budget Control Act, so that it could have an up-or-down vote in the Senate," he said. "We're going to remain hopeful until we see reason to be otherwise."
Collins said there could be a silver lining, too. If a resolution is reached in the coming weeks, the measure could be attached to a larger package to avert the year-end tax hikes and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. If that happens, it is highly unlikely the package would be stripped from the bill before it passes the House, he said.
The package is supported by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy and dozens of other organizations.
It is opposed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Food Safety and nearly 200 other groups that lobbied yesterday for its defeat
Senate Republicans last night defeated a bill to promote hunting, angling and conservation on public lands, arguing that it runs afoul of spending limits set in the 2011 Budget Control Act.
The 50-44 procedural vote killed, for now, a package of 17 bills from Republicans and Democrats that enjoys strong support from sportsmen's, conservation and gun advocacy groups. The measure needed 60 votes to advance.
Republicans led by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that while S. 3525 would reduce the deficit by $5 million over the next decade -- due to additional revenue from the sale of duck hunting permits -- it would also raise spending by $140 million.
"The fundamentals of this bill are good," Sessions said on the floor last night, adding that he feels the budget violations could be easily fixed if members can find spending reductions elsewhere.
"At a time of unprecedented spending and unsustainable debt, low public confidence in Congress, should we not adhere to even the small spending limits that have been enacted?" he said.
The bill by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) included measures to conserve wetlands, expand funding for shooting ranges and extend a decade-old law that allows federal agencies to acquire sensitive habitats using revenue from the sales of lower-value federal lands, among other measures.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was the only Democrat to join 43 Republicans in opposing the bill. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was the only Republican to break party ranks.
Boxer before the vote said she was concerned with language barring U.S. EPA from regulating lead ammunition and fishing tackle, which she argued could poison wildlife and threaten humans who consume the animals. She said she also opposed language allowing polar bear carcasses to be imported from Canada.
"I believe this bill has many good provisions that will help preserve America's treasured natural resources, protect fish and wildlife and provide recreational opportunities for our families," she said. "Unfortunately, the bill also includes two provisions that threaten public health and could set back wildlife conservation efforts."
It is unclear whether party leaders will come to an agreement on how to fix the budget violations, and if so, when the bill will be brought back up for a vote.
"We'll try to figure out something," Tester said last night after the vote. "We've got to find $140 million basically somewhere in the budget, which isn't a lot, but we've still got to find it. And if we can, then we'll move forward. If we can't, then it will be dead."
Tester said the overall bill would save wildlife habitat and strengthen hunting and angling opportunities on public lands, which are the backbone of an outdoor economy valued at $600 billion annually, he said. Voting to uphold Sessions' point of order is the same as killing the bill, he said.
The senator said he is unsure whether to be optimistic about the bill's final passage. "I'm not near as confident as I was four or five hours ago," Tester said. "We're going to try our best to try to get it across the line."
Vaughn Collins, director of government affairs at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said that while bill advocates are tired and frustrated after last night's vote, he is confident Senate leaders will strike a resolution, given the bill's popularity nationwide.
"It sounds like there's an interest and appetite to bring this into compliance with the Budget Control Act, so that it could have an up-or-down vote in the Senate," he said. "We're going to remain hopeful until we see reason to be otherwise."
Collins said there could be a silver lining, too. If a resolution is reached in the coming weeks, the measure could be attached to a larger package to avert the year-end tax hikes and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. If that happens, it is highly unlikely the package would be stripped from the bill before it passes the House, he said.
The package is supported by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy and dozens of other organizations.
It is opposed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Food Safety and nearly 200 other groups that lobbied yesterday for its defeat
