But ....it’s too early to celebrate
By Peter Muller
Normally we celebrate life,
but not this one:
The Bill pending in the Senate as S.25 and passed in
the House as HR 701, The Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999,
known as CARA, is among the most pernicious pieces of pro-hunting
legislation ever proposed.
Few people outside the State and Federal Fish and Game
Agencies know about it. Its enactment would be tantamount to quadrupling the
already considerable annual federal contribution to hunting programs
of the various states agencies from about $400 million per year to
$1.6 billion per year.
This bill would be tantamount to increasing in the
total funding of up to 150% of every state's Fish and Game agencies
budget.
Congress is expected to end the current session on
Friday October 20th 2000. As of the time of this writing -- CARA
is dead. It has no chance of coming to a vote in the Senate --this
according to Senator Barbara Boxer's office. Barbara Boxer who frequently
votes on our side of animal-related issues, was evidently totally
misled on CARA. She wound up being the main sponsor and cheerleader
for CARA in the Senate.
We were able to confirm the apparent demise of CARA
with various members of the House of Representatives.
Cara passed in the House
5/11/2000 4:03pm:
On passage Passed by recorded vote: 315 - 102 (Roll
no. 179).
5/11/2000:
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
In the Senate it ran into opposition from various groups
in spite of the ardent support of the hook and bullet gang. Some
of the opposition to CARA came from groups that we would not normally
consider to be on our side -- but as we all know -- politics makes
for strange bedfellows.
Late last week, Congressional leaders and the Clinton
administration drafted a "Lands Trust" proposal as part
of the Interior Appropriations bill that could mean more short term
funding for land and wildlife protection programs. This proposal
is promoted as a substitute for the Conservation and Reinvestment
Act (CARA), HR 4578.
The appropriation bill for the Department of Interior
HR 4578 was passed and signed into law by President Clinton
10/3/2000 2:33pm:
On agreeing to the conference report Agreed to by the Yeas
and Nays: 348 - 69 (Roll
no. 507).
10/5/2000:
Senate agreed to conference report by Yea-Nay Vote. 83 -
13. Record
Vote Number: 266.
10/11/2000:
Signed by President.
10/11/2000:
Became Public Law No: 106-291
There evidently was a "deal" struck between
the CARA proponents of the House of Representatives and the Senate
and the Executive Branch that if HR4578 passes then CARA would not
come to a vote in the Senate.
The good news is that CARA is dead and will not be
revived.
The bad new is that some of the CARA elements have
been incorporated in HR4578 which does provide considerable additional
funding for the Department of Interior.
HR4578 includes a $776 billion (with a b) allocation
to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for FY 2001
For necessary expenses of the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service, for scientific and economic studies, conservation,
management, investigations, protection, and utilization of
fishery and wildlife resources, except whales, seals, and sea
lions, maintenance of the herd of long-horned cattle on the
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, general administration,
and for the performance of other authorized functions related
to such resources by direct expenditure, contracts, grants,
cooperative agreements and reimbursable agreements with public
and private entities, $776,595,000, to remain available until
September 30, 2002
A quick read of HR 4578 shows no restrictions on the allocation
to USFWS that is of interest to us. There appears to be no direct
mandated distribution of funds (beyond Pittman-Roberts) to the various
state Fish and Game agencies. That had been our main concern with
CARA.
We have to study the bill further assess its full impact on issues
of interest to us and will report on this in our next newsletter.
