Gun Amendment To Omnibus Public Lands Management Act

Floor Speech

Mr. SMITH of Nebraska. I rise today out of concern for the public lands bill that we are taking up. We will be taking up the Senate amendments to H.R. 146. I support the underlying goals of our Nation's conservation systems, but I am concerned about overreaching actions by the Federal Government negatively affecting the American public.

The original bill, S. 22, combined 170 separate measures--most of which have never received a committee hearing. Last week, the Senate called up H.R. 146, an unrelated battlefield preservation bill, and substituted the text of S. 22. Because we have already passed an earlier version of H.R. 146, the measure can be shielded from further amendments. This is unfortunate. There will be no opportunity to amend this bill. By sidestepping a legislative process, we are not making this bill better.

Last week, there was an amendment that protects hunting and fishing, but it certainly was silent because it didn't need to be vocal at the time on the right-to-carry provision. But, on March 19, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly single-handedly decided to block the government's common sense policy.

We can do better, Mr. Speaker, and we should do better.

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