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Sportsmans Act of 2012

This important bill effects all of our outdoor sports,  both hunting and fishing.
 
Urgent Call to action.
The Sportsman’s Act of 2012 is quite  possibly one of the most important pieces of legislation to come along in a  generation. This bill which was sponsored by Sen. Tester from Montana has a very  good chance of being passed into law. But we need to give Sen. Reid a little  push to get this across the finish line. We need you to put in calls to Sen  Reid’s office today! The message is simple Here are the talking  points.
*Tell Sen. Reid thank you for his work moving this bill through  the senate.
*Ask Sen. Reid to make sure this bill passes out of the  Senate.
Please remember this one very important point. No mater  what political party you align with or whatyour opinion is of Sen. Reid , this bill is a good bill  for sportsman. Sen Reid has helped to guide this bill through the senate and has  kept this bill from becoming a “Christmas Tree” bill full of amendments and  other extraneous non-sense. He has also been able to stave off attacks from the  far left that wanted to remove language about prohibiting the EPA’s regulation  of lead bullets. So please take a couple of minutes to make the phone call. This  is a critical moment for sportsmen to get involved!!!
It’s that simple.  It will take you less than two minutes to make this call but it can make all the  difference in the world.
Please Call Sen. Reid’s office today. Here’s  the number
775-686-5750
If your not convinced, read the two  articles below.
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November 13, 2012
Must-Pass Legislation: Sportsmen’s Act of  2012
 
by Ben Lamb Outdoor Life  Magazine

One of the biggest bills in a generation comes up for a cloture vote in the  U.S. Senate this Thursday. That means there must be 60 Senators who think that a  bill widely praised by the NRA, Boone and Crockett Club, and just about every  big sportsman’s organization should pass without bogging down in the time-tested  stall tactics our elected officials like to engage in.

We’ve covered the details of the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 here before, but now  that the election year frivolity is over, it’s time for Congress to get back to  business. Before the Senate broke in October for some much-needed time away from  lobbyists to campaign, the Senate voted on another procedural motion on this  bill. The motion passed 84-12. That’s a commanding margin of victory for anyone  who’s worked in the politics of outdoors recreation.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the bill’s author, should be commended highly for  his ability to work with different interest groups to get a bill that truly will  increase the number of acres of public land available to hunters and anglers, as  well as streamline regulation of lead shot, importation of legally harvested  polar bears, and reauthorization of funding for conservation programs that  ensure we have abundant game on our public land.

The fight for the Sportsmen’s Act isn’t over. The NRA, National Shooting  Sports Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Congressional  Sportsmen’s Foundation, and a host of other national, regional and local groups  are calling all hands to lobby their senators for passage.

You should stand up and be counted as well. It’s not often that Congress can  agree on anything. Let’s let them know that hunters and anglers want them to  work together to solve problems, not just stare at each other and cause  more.

Write your Senator, and after this passes the Senate, write your Congressman  as well. Good legislation like this deserves to be passed. It helps out not only  our hunting and angling today, but ensures a vibrant future that we can hand  down to our children and grandchildren.

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Also read this

Senate aims for post-Thanksgiving passage of sportsmen’s package, sans  amendments

Phil  Taylor, E&E reporter

Published: Friday, November 16, 2012

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The  Senate after Thanksgiving plans to finish work on a bill to improve access to  public lands for hunters and anglers after leaders agreed yesterday that no  amendments will be offered.

The  chamber on the evening of Monday, Nov. 26, is scheduled to hold two votes on  Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) “Sportsmen’s Act of 2012” (S. 3525).

The  first vote will be on whether to waive the Budget Control Act and will require a  60-vote threshold, according to a Democratic aide. Such a move would not be  unprecedented.

The  package would reduce the deficit by about $5 million over the next decade,  according to the Congressional Budget Office. But Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)  yesterday said he has confirmed with Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) that  the bill would violate budget law and said he intends to raise a budget point of  order.

If  the vote succeeds, a second vote will be held to pass a substitute amendment to the bill that  would exclude provisions in the original bill involving billfish and a study of  offshore rigs on marine life, the aide said. That vote will only require a  simple majority.

Similar billfish legislation to reduce overfishing of marlins, spearfish  and other species with a long, pronounced spear on their upper jaw was signed  into law by President Obama last month (Greenwire, Oct. 9).

The  rig study will be removed from Tester’s bill at the request of Sens. Mary  Landrieu (D-La.) and David Vitter (R-La.), who are already working on the issue  with stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the aide.

Yesterday’s agreement on a path forward sparked optimism among  supporters who have called Tester’s sportsmen’s package the biggest in a  generation. Tester first offered the bill as an amendment to the Senate farm  bill this summer.

The  bipartisan package of about 20 bills is endorsed by the National Rifle  Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, the  Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and dozens of other  groups.

Some  environmental groups and Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Ben  Cardin of Maryland and Jack Reed of Rhode Island remain opposed to provisions  barring U.S. EPA from regulating lead ammunition under the Toxic Substances  Control Act and allowing the importation of polar bear trophies harvested  legally in Canada.

Major environmental groups have been silent on the overall bill, but  there has been considerable internal debate.

“Environmental groups have been doing exactly what [Senate Majority  Leader] Harry Reid tells them to do, even if it is anti-environmental,” said one  environmentalist, who opposes the bill but asked not to be named.

Tester’s bill would conserve wetlands, allow funding for shooting ranges  on public lands and safeguard the use of lead bullets and fishing tackle, among  other provisions. It would also extend a decade-old law that allows federal  agencies to conserve sensitive habitats using proceeds from the sales of  lower-value federal lands.

It  also would allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to raise more money from the sale  of duck stamps, which fund wetlands conservation, while expanding a program that  allows the stamps to be purchased online.