
This looks like good news for wolves, it’s being reported the “policy riders” have been dumped from the budget bill. If this holds, it means the Tester wolf delisting rider is gone, along with the other 500 policy riders that were attached to the original budget bill. BUT are they gone for good?
Attaching delisting language to a budget bill was the easiest way for the anti-wolf crowd to strip wolves out of the ESA. I hope this is the beginning of good news for wolves in the Northern Rockies. It’s been a long, stressful and tiring two years since they were delisted by the Obama administration.
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Federal Government Shutdown Averted – Policy Riders Dumped
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama announced late Friday night that a deal on the federal budget has been reached and that “the federal government is open for business.” While the Republicans were able to eek out $38.5 billion in spending reductions for the current fiscal year, the policy riders that had been attached to the budget, including termination of funding for Planned Parenthood and limits on the reach of the EPA, were extricated from the legislation. Congress passed a short-term extension until Thursday, which included $2 billion of the agreed cuts in spending.
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Can wolf advocates breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in months? I’ll continue to follow this story and keep you updated. Remember even though a deal was struck it only funds the government thru April 15th.
The bill may be devoid of policy riders now but will they be inserted back into the final bill? These are all questions we don’t know the answers to yet.
We must be vigilant and keep an eye on the wheeling and dealing. Wolves are not out of the woods yet. The final bill may yet be manipulated to include a wolf delisting rider. Continue to call Senators and let them know we do not want them legislating wolves out of the ESA.
Posted in: Wolf Wars
Tags: budget fight, policy riders dumped?, wolves get a reprieve?, wolf advocates, Congress
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