We’ve covered the fact that the Biden administration is withholding funding from school hunting and archery programs. It’s a bizarre position to take, to say the least, especially if you claim you’re not anti-hunting, as most anti-gunners try to claim.
Now, a number of Democrats in the Senate are expressing concerns over the action, despite having actually voted for the bill enabling this to happen.
Several Democratic senators up for reelection in 2024 are pushing back against a Biden administration policy rolling back shooting units in physical education classes, even though they all voted for the legislation that made the move possible.
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“Any reduction of federal support by the Biden Administration for these school programs is unacceptable,” Montana Sen. Jon Tester tweeted Aug. 2. He later submitted a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona saying that the department “misinterpreted” the statute.
Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who caucuses with the Democrats, and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin also pushed back on the funding cut. A spokesperson for Sinema said that the Education Department ignored congressional intent, while Manchin blasted the administration’s “radical agenda” and “blatant disregard for the law.”
All three of them are vulnerable come reelection time.
It’s interesting that they voted for this bill that they’re now decrying part of. However, I won’t say it’s particularly surprising.
The truth of the matter is that all three likely knew the broad strokes of the measure but didn’t actually read it to find all the little details. Take a look at bills sometime and you’ll see why they don’t actually read the bills. It’s kind of boring, kind of a headache, and since they’re sure they know what’s in it, they simply don’t bother.
Yet sometimes, there might be things in there that allow the Department of Education to cut funding for programs like hunting and archery as well as basic gun safety courses.
See, kids who grow up using guns are often kids who grow up to vote against gun control. It’s why there’s such an attempt to destroy youth shooting in this country by anti-gunners.
Normally, Democrats aren’t going to have an issue with something like this.
Yet Montana, West Virginia, and Arizona have rural populations who actually like their schools having hunting and archery programs. Their votes for this are likely to hurt them come reelection time, so it’s imperative they try and get out in front of things by denouncing this decision.
What they can’t escape, though, is how their vote led to this.
Neither should any of the 14 Senate Republicans who voted for this. Sen. John Cornyn especially, as he was one of the ringleaders in getting this legislation written in the first place. Texas is a pretty big hunting state, so I can’t imagine this is going to play well outside of the big cities.
I’d imagine this will hurt Cornyn in a potential primary challenge, though it remains to be seen if it will hurt him enough to offer him retirement from his political career.
But these three Democrats just went along with the party. That’s still bad enough, but we’ll have to see if they can do sufficient damage control to actually stay in office.
Of the three, Manchin and Sinema have already been talked about as holding office on borrowed time. Then again, people have said that about the West Virginia Democrat for a while and he keeps holding on. Will this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, though?
Honestly, I don’t know.
All three Democrats are vulnerable, but it’s unlikely that most people will even be aware of what transpired with archery and hunting programs for it to matter.
If we happen to change that, well, so much the better.
