Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to explain my vote in support of cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 3525, the Sportsmen's Act of 2012. I am supporting cloture in an effort to move this important bill forward. It is a compilation of almost 20 different pieces of legislation that are important to the sportsmen's community. The Sportsmen's Act will increase habitat conservation while improving access to recreational fishing and hunting lands. The Senate deserves the chance to debate this bill, and I support invoking cloture on the motion to proceed in an effort to make it the pending business before the Senate. However, I want to voice my opposition to a provision in this bill dealing with polar bears. The provision would allow hunters who killed polar bears in Canada before a ban was put in place to bring their remains into the United States. I believe this provision could encourage further hunting of polar bears, increase demand for polar bear trophies, and lead to a rise in poaching or illegal trade of polar bear parts. It could also stimulate demand for other exotic and endangered animal parts from around the globe. Polar bears are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Their habitat is being threatened by global warming. We need to do everything we can to curb the hunting of these creatures for sport and avoid the unintended consequence of putting polar bears and other endangered species at risk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?”