Are there budget /wolf riders in this document??
UPDATE DECEMBER 15, 2011
The clown show in DC is still dithering and no vote has been scheduled on the budget. If they don’t pass the Omnibus Bill or a Continuing Resolution by tomorrow, Friday, December 16, 2011 the government will shut down. Still no word if the Lummis wolf delisting rider is in or out of the spending bill. KEEP CALLING!!!!
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Congress is back at it again. Remember the wolf delisting rider that Cynthia Lummis R-WY stuffed into the budget bill this past summer?
Well it’s rearing its ugly head again. The House and Senate are still in negotiations to pass a budget bill before Friday, December 16, 2011 or face a government shutdown. It’s call the Omnibus bill and in that bill lurks the wolf delisting rider, Sec.119.
The rider reads:
“Sec. 119. Hereafter, any final rule published by the Department of the Interior that provides that the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in the State of Wyoming or in any of the States within the range of the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment of the gray wolf (as defined in the rule published on May 5, 2011 (76. Fed. Reg. 26086 et seq.)) is not an endangered species or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), including any rule to remove such species in such a State from the list of endangered species or threatened species published under that Act, shall not be subject to judicial review if such State has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of the Interior that authorizes the State to manage gray wolves in that State.”
Although there was word yesterday that the rider may have been stripped from the bill, it’s just a rumor. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are still wheeling and dealing on the budget, so anything can happen. I won’t believe the rider is out of the bill until I see the language published on thomas.gov
If you remember this is exactly the scenario we faced last Spring, when the battle over the budget included a wolf delisting rider that targeted wolves in the Northern Rockies. 81 Senators voted to delist wolves via budget/wolf rider and now we have two brutal wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana, with horror stories everyday about dead wolves or proposals to kill wolves. Aerial gunning, traps, snares, arrows, it goes on and on. Just today I read hunters are encouraging Montana FWP to institute trapping in the West Fork , to help kill more wolves. The entire situation is leaving conservationists horrified at the frenzy surrounding wolf killings. It’s as if there is nothing more important to these states then dead wolves. People are losing their jobs and homes yet the focus is on wiping out wolves. It’s something I’ve never witnessed in my lifetime. Such reckless hate directed toward an animal. This is the result of a wolf delisting rider that handed wolves over to hostile state management, proving wolves cannot recover in the lower forty-eight without federal protection.
It seems more likely now that Congress will pass a Continuing Resolution or CR to keep the government running and prevent a government shutdown. That would be the best possible news for wolves because it means the wolf rider, probably hiding in the Omnibus budget bill, would be put on hold until Congress returns from holiday vacation. Still we can’t count on a CR being passed and have to assume the wolf rider/budget bill could still pass by Friday’s deadline.
Please start calling members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee, who are negotiating the budget bill. I’ve listed the names for both the Senate and House. Even if the budget bill doesn’t pass on Friday and Congress adopts a Continuing Resolution to keep the government-funded, we’ll have delivered our message. When they come back from vacation and take this matter up again, they’ll know we are ready to stand and defend wolves once again.
TELL THEM NO WOLF RIDERS, NO BAD ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS.
If they want to pass legislation they need to do it the right way and stop sneaking bad policy into spending bills that would never stand on their own. It’s underhanded and thwarts the will of the people. We’ve had enough of their backroom politics.
We’re losing wolves daily in the Northern Rockies because of the bad wolf delisting rider passed last Spring. This can’t happen again. The Lummis rider would delist Wyoming, Great Lakes Region wolves and possibly wolves in 29 Eastern states. It goes further preventing any judicial review. Again, it’s Groundhog Day. The same ugly, “politics by rider” that’s caused so much suffering and cruelty against wolves in the Northern Rockies is threatening to wreak havoc again.
Call the Capital Switchboard number and ask the operator to speak to the Representatives or Senators listed below. Tell them NO to the wolf delisting/budget rider and all policy riders. Please also call your own Representatives and Senators to deliver the same message.
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House of Representatives
US Senate
http://www.senate.gov/
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Capital Switchboard Numbers
1-866-220-0044
1-202-224-3121
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US House of Representatives
Appropriation Committee Members
Republicans
Chairman Hal Rogers
Rep. C.W. Bill Young, Chairman Emeritus
Rep. Jerry Lewis, Chairman Emeritus
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen
Rep. Robert B. Aderholt
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson
Rep. Kay Granger
Rep. Mike Simpson
Rep. John Culberson
Rep. Ander Crenshaw
Rep. John R. Carter
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Democrats
Ranking Member Norm Dicks
Rep. Peter Visclosky
Rep. Nita Lowey
Rep. Jose Serrano
Rep. Rosa DeLauro
Rep. James Moran
Rep. David Price
Rep. Sanford Bishop
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US Senate
Appropriations Committee Members
Democrats
DANIEL K. INOUYE
Hawaii, Chairman
PATRICK J. LEAHY
Vermont
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI
Maryland
PATTY MURRAY
Washington
DIANNE FEINSTEIN
California
RICHARD J. DURBIN
Illinois
MARY L. LANDRIEU
Louisiana
JACK REED
Rhode Island
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG
New Jersey
BEN NELSON
Nebraska
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Republicans
THAD COCHRAN
Mississippi, Vice Chairman
RICHARD C. SHELBY
Alabama
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
Texas
SUSAN COLLINS
Maine
ROY BLUNT
Missouri
JERRY MORAN
Kansas
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Approps Deal May Mean Bad Holiday Season for Wolves
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/epepper/the_holiday_season_is_supposed.html
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Lummis wolf clause still up in the air
http://trib.com/news/opinion/blogs/capitol/lummis-wolf-clause-still-up-in-the-air/article_452e05fa-25cf-11e1-a62d-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1gUh2SQ9s
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Short-term spending bill to avoid shutdown more likely than omnibus
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Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Posted in: Wolf Wars, gray wolf
Tags: budget bill shenanigans, Wyoming wolves, delisting rider, Cynthia Lummis, Great Lakes Region wolves, bad budget riders
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 
Tomorrow morning the phone – oh they will be a ringing over there in D.C. I will tell them how I feel about all this CRAP.
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ramses…I know they will get an ear full from you!! It never ends and how much more of this are advocates supposed to put up with??
For the wolves,
Nabeki
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Thank you for the Heads Up and all your untiring work on behalf of our wolves.
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You’re very welcome birdpond. We really need to move fast on this because they are being very tight mouthed about whether the rider has survived into the spending bill. It’s deja vu. The very same thing happened last year with the other rider. The main thing is to let them know we know and there will be consequences in the 2012 election for the Democrats if they vote for this. I personally haven’t gotten over their betrayal of wolves in the Northern Rockies.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Excellent Blog! Action speaks louder than words; yet getting the real information to the public citizen is crucial.
Much Thanks!
Gretch
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Thank you sugarmtngalO. I try to keep you informed as and up to date on the gray wolf situation. Knowledge is power.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Once again they are taking away our Constitutional rights. Article III Sec 2 states that the Judicial powers rule over ALL cases of law – it says NOTHING about giving the Legislative branch the ability to pick and choose what laws the Judicial branch can rule over.
I’ve already notified by two Senators and two Representatives.
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I absolutely believe the “no judicial review” is unconstitutional. I was very disappointed in Judge Molloy’s ruling but apparently the Ninth Circuit had set precedent he felt they needed to deal with and re-consider. His thinking was if he ruled on the constitutionality of rider it would be overturned by the Ninth. He almost begged them to re-consider the precedent that had been set and stated openly it was his opinion the rider was unconstitutional and the Ninth Circuit should find it so. I can only hope they rule soon, the death count is rising sharply and the killing more frenzied.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Stand up for wolves. Tell the feds, your Congressional delegations and your newspapers to STOP KILLING WOLVES. We taxpayers demanded wolf recovery and invested million of our dollars to bring wolves home. And now the thrill-kill tyrants ruling Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are destroying America’s wolf and our investment. Welcome to Medieval Times–with torture, hysteria, trapping, snaring, trapping and hate. What’s next–more witch hunts and public beheadings–like in Saudi Arabia. Stand and fight for what is right. Stand with wolves, stand with the Light.
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Thank you Dr. Raven for your impassioned plea. Wolf advocates really need to step it up, the killing frenzy is spreading and the killers more emboldened.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Obama, $alazar and all politicians involved in this heinous act are pustulant maggots of the FIRST MAGNITUDE..!! THIS IS THE WOLF’S COUNTRY – NOT YOURS, EURO/AFRO INVADERS, and the world NEEDS its Wolves – NOT a bunch of livestock farmers who don’t know shit about Nature..!! Wolves are necessary for the balance of Nature – you ever heard of that..?? Which is why the Fish & Wildlife Service reintroduced them, following extirpation in the Western states and resultant habitat deterioration caused by too many Deer..!! Thought you-all had learnt and remembered that particular lesson – Wolves, together with other predators, are necessary for a healthy ecosystem..!! But take heart from this: Your object-lesson as to what to do when a species is perceived to be too numerous will be remembered…. That’s a PROMISE..!!
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Have they gone totally nuts? What is wrong with these people? They need to find jobs that keep them busy and those Congress People need to take some kind of pill for mental illness. To the phones it is – I doubt that Texas cares – not saying individual people don’t care – but the important ones –
Anybody know how Newt Gingrich feels about Wolves? My God if we can’t find anyone better than Obama or Newt – we are all lost – Wolves and Humans.
I have also lived a very long life and coming to the end of it – and I have never ever seen such a frenzy in my life – not counting WWII – this is something that is like an illness that has gripped those people – maybe it’s the cold.
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You have got to be joking! They are doing this again?! Next thing you know they will be targeting the Mexican Wolves with these types of riders! How much more harm to wolves must Congress commit before they are satisfied? When will this assult on our wolves stop?!
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NoonvaleWolf…How pathetic to target Mexican gray wolves who are so persecuted, often killed by poachers. These highly endangered animals are under constant threat, the USFWS has failed miserably to recover them. Only lawsuits by conservation groups have held their feet to the fire. Just a few years ago the wolves were under battling the dreaded “three strikes rule”, meaning if they were implicated in three cattle deaths they would be killed. One ranch hand from the Adobe/Slash ranch was caught baiting the wolves, trying to get them killed under the “three strikes”. Thankfully that has been abolished but the wolves are in constant danger of being killed by poachers. Cattle choke the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, trapping is allowed. It’s a horrible situation with so few wolves and yet they continue to be hounded. This is the state of Mexican gray wolf recovery.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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The United States doesn’t have a king and the American people got rid of crown law but who needs either when you’ve got a court of bred and born cattle ranching senators and a no litigation rider?
CMM
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Rep. Steve Pearce from New Mexico, a notorious wolf hater, put a rider to end the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program into the original 2012 Interior Appropriations Bill. Nabeki, do you know what happened to that rider? When is the 9th Circuit Court going to make a ruling on the Rockies wolf rider? Does it usually take so long to make a decision?
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Judy, as far as I know there are no wolf riders in the Omnibus spending bill. I’ll look into the status of the Pierce wolf rider and let you know what I find.
An article on the sad state of Mexican gray wolf recovery in Arizona.
Ariz. Drops Wolf Support
By Rene Romo / Journal South Reporter on Sun, Dec 11, 2011
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2011/12/11/news/ari-zdrops-wolf-support.html
As for the Ninth Circuit, the plaintiffs asked for an expedited ruling, supposedly that’s why the judges didn’t grant an injunction to stop the hunts because their ruling would be forthcoming. I hope it comes soon, Idaho is doubling down it’s efforts to kill as many wolves as possible and it looks like Montana is taking off the gloves as well. The situation is deteriorating into madness. It would be nice if some of the big orgs that aren’t involved in the lawsuit would speak out against the wolf slaughter in the Northern Rockies. The fish and game agencies are very emboldened. I’m very encouraged by the LA Times recently, they’ve picked up this story and have started to run with it, which is exactly what is needed.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Nabeki,
Thanks again for providing timely information about the politics surrounding the ESA and giving us a way to speak for the wolves. I made my calls and am most grateful for the opportunity.
Grieving for the wolves, hoping for a better future.
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