Update On S.3525 - Sportsmen's Act of 2012

The Senate will vote on S. 3525 - Sportsmen's Act of 2012 - on Monday, November 19th. Today's Senate calendar listed the motion to bring the vote as having unanimous consent.

S. 3525 (ORDER NO. 504) 1.—Ordered, That at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 26, 2012, all post-cloture time on S. 3525, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting, and for other purposes, be deemed expired, and the Senate vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act point of order, if raised; provided, that if the motion to waive is successful, Amdt. Nos. 2876, 2877, 2878, and 2879 be withdrawn, en bloc, and substitute Amdt. No. 2875, offered by the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), be agreed to; provided further, that no further amendments or motions be in order prior to a vote on passage of the bill, and the Senate vote on passage of S. 3525, as amended, with no intervening action or debate; further, that if the motion to waive is not successful, the Majority Leader be recognized.

Ordered further, That on Monday, November 26, it be in order for the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Sessions), or his designee, to be recognized to raise a Budget Act point of order against substitute Amdt. No. 2875; provided, that it be in order the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), or his designee, to make a motion to wave the point of order. (Nov. 15, 2012.)

The text of S.Amdt.2875 can be found here. It is just too long to try and publish in the blog. Scroll down to No. 2875 and go from there.

As Sebastian pointed out yesterday, while this bill supported by both the NRA and the NSSF, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) has come out in opposition to the bill due to concerns about private land being taken by the Federal government using non-Federal funds. Read his post and the comments.

For an opposing view, I suggest reading this guest analysis that David Codrea posted on his WarOnGuns blog today. It seems the concern is over the National Fish Habitat Board and the impact it could have on wetlands and their use.

I would be the first to agree that the definition of wetlands leaves much to be desired and that some bureaucrats have defined mud puddles (for lack of a better word) as a wetland. That said, I think any move to undercut the EPA's coziness with the radical environmentalists at the Center for Biological Diversity is good. Until they were called out on it, the EPA through its General Counsel was actively giving advice to CBD on how to bring a petition to ban lead ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. This bill if passed would remove lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle from the EPA's purview.