Tacking on Riders to a Congressional bill on a given topic that has nothing to do with the primary bill under consideration......................an age old legal manipulation employed by congressmen and senators of both parties to get pet projects passed and approved................This is a further insult to the American people by the special interest groups and the Congressmen that they own lock, stock and barrel........................Will we ever have Men and Women of character and laws that help them display the right moral character walking the halls of Congress? As many of us know, last week, Wolves nearly were stripped of their potential to be listed under the Endangered Species Act by a Texas Congressman and his special interest henchmen..................Geez, Louise...............this pisses me off big time....................does it rile your insides to the extent it does mine?

COULD IT ALL HAVE BEEN OVER ON SEPTEMBER 30?

Leading Sportsman Blasts Montana Senators for Derailing Wolf Delisting

Wildlife conservation group says the wolf would already be exempted from the Endangered Species Act if it had not been for Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

By Bill Schneider, 10-07-10
The founder of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW), a multi-state conservation group that has been aggressively pushing for a congressional resolution to the wolf delisting controversy, claims Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester, both Democrats, are not his allies.
Instead, he insists, both the Montana Senators worked behind the scenes to actually derail delisting efforts at the same time they were jointly introducing a bill to delist the wolf.
No, I'm not making it up.
Don Peay, SFW founder, recently returned from a seven-day "20-hour per day" lobbying effort in Washington, D.C. The goal of his trip was to have a bill introduced by Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX) tacked as a rider onto the September 30 Continuing Resolution (CR), a common practice where Congress punts on passing a budget and instead extends the current level of spending to keep the federal government running.
He was in the Capitol City with three other prominent regional conservation leaders, Miles Moretti, Clint Bentley and Ted Lyon, and the group had a face-to-face meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) about the rider.
"He told us he wanted to get something done," Peay wrote in a blogpost, 'but Leader Reid did NOT make a time commitment."
"I don't like to speak for others, but several prominent sportsmen had MAJOR discussions with Senators Baucus and Tester for WEEKS, about getting behind the Edwards bill," Peay wrote. "Had the Senate passed it, due to Rules, the House had no choice but to accept the CR as written, no conference, no back and forth, etc. It would have been done."
Peay called the Edwards bill "carefully researched" and written "by a very successful Texas trial attorney and strong democrat," but HR. 6028 is very brief (one-page, 103-words). You can read it here, but this is the key section: "The Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) shall not be treated as an endangered species or threatened species for purposes of this (Endangered Species) Act."
The bill seems to apply to all wolf populations such as those in the Midwest and perhaps even wolf recovery efforts in the Southwest, and certainly the beginning populations in Oregon, Utah and Washington. It would not allow listing under the ESA in the future without another amendment to the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
"In my opinion, had Baucus and Tester gotten behind the Edwards bill, and worked to get it on the Senate CR, Thursday night, wolves would have been off the ESA," Peay wrote. 'There was no official vote, but clearly had Senators Tester and Baucus wanted to get this done, it would have been done."
Instead, Peay charged, "Baucus and Tester fought it tooth and nail."
You can read his entire blogpost here.
Both Baucus and Tester deny Peay's interpretation of the events leading up the passage of the Continuing Resolution on September 30
"That's 100% false." Kate Downen, a spokeswoman for Senator Baucus, told NewWest.Net in an email in reference to Peay's charges. "Max introduced a bill that would delist wolves in Montana and put management of wolves back under Montana's control. While Max believes his bill is a common sense and viable solution to this issue, he's open to looking at any plan that would put wolf management back in Montana's hands."
"This claim is absolutely false," agreed Andrea Helling, spokeswoman for Senator Tester. "Jon didn't derail Rep. Edwards' House bill. It simply was never added to the Senate's Continuing Resolution. Apparently some folks wanted Rep. Edwards' bill to be included in a larger Senate bill as part of a backroom deal, and apparently, they're eager to point fingers because they didn't get what they wanted."
Helling also said Senators Tester and Baucus did meet with a few other western senators last Tuesday (9-28) to discuss various wolf proposals. The meeting took place at 4:15 pm, two hours after the Senate invoked closure (voted to end debate) on the Continuing Resolution.
To attach Rep. Edwards' wolf bill to the Continuing Resolution after cloture, she explained, the Senate would have needed unanimous consent. "There is no way Rep. Edwards' bill, which exempts all wolves entirely from the purview of the Endangered Species Act, would have passed the Senate with unanimous consent." Early this week, Senators Baucus and Tester introduced their own wolf delisting bill, which is more moderate that Edwards' bill. It calls for delisting as soon as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service accepts management plans written by Idaho and Montana and does not sweep up any other wolf populations. Under this bill, the wolf could be relisted if for some unforeseen reason, the population crashed.
After getting these denials, I asked Peay for more documentation, and I will update this article when I get any additional information.
I also asked Congressman Edwards's office to comment on the charges, but I did not hear back from his press secretary.