Summary: The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry completed its Farm Bill markup without adopting anti-hunting or animal-rights amendments, securing a key preliminary victory for conservationists and sportsmen.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry marked-up Committee Chairman John Boozman’s (R-AR) proposed Farm Bill. Thanks to Senator Boozman and Ag Committee staff, the draft text was free from anti-hunting and extreme animal-rights language. However, that didn’t stop animal-rights extremists from offering three amendments for committee consideration prior to mark-up.
Thanks to Senator Boozman’s leadership, excellent committee staff work, and voluminous opposition from hunters, no animal-activist amendments were actually offered during mark-up, and for now the Senate Farm Bill remains clean of anti-hunting and radical animal-rights language.
How Does the Sportsmen’s Alliance View the Markup Results?
“Today’s clean mark-up of the Senate Farm Bill is a major victory for conservation and our nation’s hunters, anglers, and trappers,” said Torin Miller, Associate Litigation Counsel at the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “From the start, Senator Boozman and the Senate Committee on Agriculture have been opposed to any attempts by animal-rights extremists to hijack the Farm Bill, and their leadership has been effective and is appreciated.”
What Anti-Hunting Amendments Were Threatened?
As a reminder, the amendments would have:
- Greatly impacted dog breed lineages used in open-field coursing throughout the country;
- Provided a slippery slope for the animal-rights movement to apply a private citizen right of action to sue (and receive attorney’s fees), draconian asset forfeiture and property seizures on the hunting, wildlife management, and agricultural communities; and
- Permanently enshrined incredibly burdensome wild horse management restrictions, perpetuating and exacerbating the crisis on America’s rangelands.
Continued Threats: What Are the Next Steps for the Farm Bill Process?
Importantly, the Senate Ag Committee did not pass the Farm Bill out of committee; rather, the committee collectively heard and edited the draft language. The committee is now in recess and attempts to pass the bill out of committee could recommence later this year.
Continued outreach to Senators is necessary to ensure these same amendments don’t weasel their way into the bill in future committee hearings or on the Senate floor. Upon final Senate passage, leadership in both the House and Senate will reconcile each chamber’s version to pass a final, unified Farm Bill. The Sportsmen’s Alliance will continue to work with both chambers to ensure that the passage of a much-needed Farm Bill does not include anti-hunting or animal-rights language.
Why Must Sportsmen Stay Engaged and Take Action?
As sportsmen, we are the true frontline guardians of a lifestyle that is increasingly coming under political fire. While we are actively funding conservation and managing the land, anti-sportsmen groups are busy filling public hearings to erase our way of life. The threats we face today are unprecedented. It is time for our community to stand together, match their energy, and fiercely protect our right to hunt, fish, and trap. This is how we ensure the legacy we inherited is preserved for our kids, grandkids, and generations to come.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance guarantees hunting, fishing, and trapping for the American sportsman now and forever. We’re there when sportsmen need us most. We are the only organization specifically created to protect the individual hunter, angler, and trapper – no matter the threat. We will never compromise when it comes to defending our way of life in the courts, in the legislatures, in the public square, and at the ballot box. We make this promise to the American sportsman: we will never give up and never give in while proudly securing our future against those seeking to destroy our values, beliefs, and traditions.
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