Drug Quality and Security Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today in support of protecting our Nation's outdoor traditions, including opening access to our public lands, preserving some of the greatest places to hunt and fish and recreate, and encouraging economic development and job creation in our great outdoors.

Last fall I called upon Congress to pass my bipartisan Sportsmen's Act. As the chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, I made it my goal to do something significant, something historic for this country's hunters and anglers. We came very close to passing my bill twice, but politics got in the way both times. A commonsense and widely supported measure failed to get across the finish line because some folks around here put self-interests before the interests of their constituents. I am optimistic that this time will be different and that we can work together to get this bill across the finish line.

Senator Hagan is leading the charge on behalf of our sports men and women, and I know she is ready to work with all of our colleagues to find a path forward. My friend from North Carolina is the new chairman of the sportsmen's caucus. Hailing from a State with a rich hunting tradition, she knows the importance of protecting America's outdoor heritage. Representing a State that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountains, she knows it is critical to preserve our wide range of treasured lands.

Senator Hagan's legislation combines more than 15 bills that will increase access for recreational hunting and fishing, that support land and species conservation, and that protect our hunting and fishing rights. Most importantly, they take ideas from both sides of the political aisle, ideas with support from all corners of the conservation and outdoors community.

When I was the chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, sports men and women would constantly tell me about the importance of access to our public lands. Right now there are 34 million acres of public land that sports men and women cannot access. That is why this bill requires that 1.5 percent of the annual funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund be set aside to increase public land access, ensuring sports men and women access to some of the best places to hunt and fish in the country.

Senator Hagan's bill will reauthorize the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. This voluntary initiative provides matching grants to landowners who set aside critical habitat for migratory birds, such as ducks. Over the past 20 years volunteers across America have completed more than 2,000 conservation projects and protected more than 26 million acres of habitat under this successful initiative. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act is a smart investment in both our lands and our wildlife, and it needs to be reauthorized.

Senator Hagan's bill and mine are not identical, but most of the provisions are the same, and the bill is a product of the same spirit of cooperation that drove my bill.

Now, just as happened last year, some folks around Washington will ask why this legislation is important. After all, we need to be working together to create jobs and put this country on solid financial footing. But outdoor recreation is a job creator and an economic driver throughout this country, and Montana is no exception. In my State, one in three Montanans hunts big game and more than 50 percent fish. Nationwide, outdoor recreation contributed nearly $650 billion in direct spending to the economy in 2012. Hunting and fishing is not just recreation; it is a critical part of our economy. In Montana, hunting and fishing brings in more than $1 billion a year to our economy--nearly as much as our State's cattle industry.

Strengthening our economy, creating jobs, preserving our outdoor traditions and our treasured places--these all sound like no-doubt-about-it ideas, but last year the Sportsman's Act ran into trouble right here in this Senate. Opposition to my bill didn't come from concerns about measures in the bill itself; instead, it was blocked by Members of Congress taking out frustrations with how other votes went that day. My bill was simply caught in the crossfire. Sports men and women across the country who have been waiting for a bill such as this for a generation watched in disbelief as my bill fell victim to politics. They won't stand for it again.

This is a bill with widespread support that preserves our outdoor economy and secures our outdoor heritage for our kids and our grandkids. There is nothing controversial about it.

Thanks to the leadership of Senator Hagan, my colleagues have another chance to get it right. When Senator Hagan's sportsmen's bill comes to the floor, whether here or in committee, I urge my colleagues to support it. Approve it as a vote for bipartisanship. Approve it as a vote for common sense over political victory. Approve it as a vote for America's 90 million sports men and women. Approve it as a vote to create jobs.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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