U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, made the following statement regarding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) decision to omit Republican amendments when he filed cloture on the bipartisan Sportsmen's Act earlier today. Vitter had filed amendments to the Sportsmen's bill to give states more authority of red snapper stocks.
"Senator Reid and his cohorts have once again chosen to politicize a popular, bipartisan bill, and in doing so, are obstructing a prime opportunity to better protect and enhance fish and wildlife, wetlands, and recreational hunting access across the country," said Vitter. "We in Louisiana are very familiar with the need to conserve our natural resources while also protecting public access to them, and I am deeply disappointed that my two amendments - which would do just that - will not be considered."
Vitter had introduced two amendments to the Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act in order to bring transparency to the closed meetings of the Regional Fishery Management Councils, and also grant States management authority of the red snapper fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.
Recently, Vitter wrote an op-ed in the Houma Courier entitled, "Protecting Red Snapper Fishing." He has also been conducting attentive oversight of the Gulf of Mexico RFMC and their ongoing efforts to update the decades-old allocations for the red snapper fisheries.
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