January 13, 2019 (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – On January 9, the Senate passed S. 3051, the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act, by amending the bill into H.R. 925, the North American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act, which passed the House in late November.
The language contained in the ACE Act, which was introduced on December 12 and passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) on December 17, was offered as a floor amendment to H.R. 925, where it passed the chamber on a bipartisan voice vote. Prior to the bill passing the Committee, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) sent a statement for the record to Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Members who serve on EPW in strong support of the bill.
The bill as passed out of the Senate contains a number of long-standing priorities for CSF including:
“CSF applauds CSC Members EPW Committee Chairman Barrasso and Ranking Member Carper for their bipartisan leadership in introducing S. 3051, and for securing the passage of the ACE Act as part of H.R. 925,” said CSF President Jeff Crane. “The leadership of Chairman Barrasso and Ranking Member Carper to swiftly move this bill out of EPW and out of the Senate demonstrates their firm commitment to America’s sportsmen and women. CSF looks forward to working with House CSC Members to advance H.R. 925 to the President’s desk to be signed into law.”
H.R. 925 now awaits to be scheduled by House Leadership for a floor vote.
Please note: Modernizing the Pittman-Robertson Fund for Tomorrow’s Needs Act, another top priority for the CSF, was included in the ACE Act as introduced and passed out of EPW, but this provision was removed after it was signed into law as part of FY20 funding agreement.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
