Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I rise today in support of my bipartisan legislation to protect funding for hunter safety programs.

Senator Cornyn is going to make a UC here in a bit. I just want to thank him and Senator Murkowski for the work that they have done on this bill. It has been incredible.

You know, in Montana and across rural America, our schools have long offered hunter safety classes and taught our kids gun safety and personal responsibility, but recently the Biden administration and the bureaucrats here in this city who really don't understand rural America very well decided to block funding for these important education programs.

I want to be clear. That was a poor decision that will hurt thousands of students who benefit from these resources and these programs every year. That is why I am pushing for this bipartisan fix that would require the Department of Education to restore a school district's ability to use Federal dollars for school archery or gun safety or hunter education programs.

Look, folks, when Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we did so to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school. This commonsense bill will make sure that we stay true to that intent by educating future generations on the importance of responsible gun ownership and hunting, which will only make our students and our communities safer. It will protect Montana's longstanding and proud tradition of hunting and shooting sports, which are essential to Montana's way of life.

I would urge my colleagues in this room today to support this bipartisan solution.

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