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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

House approves bill striking down Biden's crackdown on

hunting and archery in overwhelmingly bipartisan vote
Biden admin interpreted 2022 gun control bill to strip funding from schools with hunting and archery programs
By Thomas Catenacci Fox News

Published September 27, 2023 11:53am EDT

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Biden admin holding funds from schools that have hunting and archery programs
National Archery in the Schools Program's Tommy Floyd and 8th-grade NASP student Kimber Collins on the need to protect archery programs in schools
and how these programs benefit students.

The House voted late Tuesday evening in favor of legislation striking down the Biden
administration's decision to block federal funding for school shooting sports courses.

In a 424-1 vote, the House approved the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act
with 216 Republicans and 208 Democrats voting in favor, and just one lawmaker, Rep.
Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, voting against. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., introduced the bill on
Aug. 1, days after a Fox News Digital report in late July revealed the Department of
Education was withholding funds for school hunting and archery courses.

"Hunters and fishers are the best conservationists," Green told Fox News Digital after the
vote Tuesday. "Hunting, whether it be with a firearm or bow, is one of the most effective
ways to control wildlife populations, protect our beautiful lands, and connect with nature.
My Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act is critical for our children."

He added in a separate statement that American students should be encouraged to

"participate in enriching athletic activities that foster an appreciation for nature and the
ability to focus on a goal." According to Green, in his state alone, the Biden administration's
funding decision impacts an estimated 50,000 students.

BIDEN ADMIN CONFIRMS IT'S WITHHOLDING KEY FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS WITH
HUNTING COURSES, GOP CALL IT 'SHAMEFUL'

The Biden administration has been criticized for spearheading a war on hunting with various regulations. (Getty Images)

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., right, introduced the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act on Aug. 1. (Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reported in July that the Education Department shared federal guidance
to hunting education groups highlighting that hunting and archery programs in schools
would be stripped of funding. The guidance explained that the administration interpreted
the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to mean such programs can no longer
receive taxpayer funds.

In the guidance, obtained first by Fox News Digital, senior agency official Sarah Martinez
wrote that archery, hunter education and wilderness safety courses use weapons that are
"technically dangerous weapons" and therefore "may not be funded under" the 1965
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which is the primary source of federal
aid for elementary and secondary education across the country.

BIDEN ADMIN PAVES WAY TO REVERSE HUNTING, ARCHERY CRACKDOWN AFTER

WIDESPREAD CRITICISM

According to advocates, many schools that offer such courses have already nixed them
from curriculums due to the federal guidance.

"The Department of Education and Secretary Cardona are blatantly misconstruing the law
to withhold funding from schools that choose to teach beneficial courses like hunter
safety and archery," Lawrence Keane, the National Shooting Sports Foundation's senior
vice president, told Fox News Digital in July.

"Congress must hold Secretary Cardona and the department accountable for violating the
letter and spirit of the law to unilaterally deny America’s students access to these valuable
programs as part of the Administration’s continued attacks on the Second Amendment,"
Keane added.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona delivers remarks about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act at the National Safer
Communities Summit in West Hartford, Connecticut, on June 16. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Tommy Floyd, the president of the National Archery in the Schools Program, said his
organization boasts roughly 1.3 million students from nearly 9,000 schools across 49
states who are enrolled in archery courses.

However, the Department of Education has doubled down on its interpretation of the
BSCA, saying it would only reverse course if legislation was passed explicitly revising the
2022 law to allow funding for shooting sport programs in schools.

BIDEN FACING MORE PRESSURE FROM DEMS OVER CRACKDOWN ON SCHOOL

HUNTING, ARCHERY CLASSES

The BSCA — a bill that was criticized as a "gun control" bill but touted by proponents as an
effort to promote "safer, more inclusive and positive" schools — was passed
overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in June 2022 after
mass shootings at a grocery market in Buffalo, New York, and a school in Uvalde, Texas.

From left to right, Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced companion
legislation of the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act in the Senate on Sept. 18. (Getty Images)

The law included an amendment to a subsection in the ESEA listing that prohibited uses
for federal school funding. That amendment prohibits ESEA funds from helping provide
any person with a dangerous weapon or to provide "training in the use of a dangerous
weapon," but, according to the BSCA's sponsors was included to prevent ESEA funding for
,

school resource officer training.

Earlier this month, three of the four BSCA Senate sponsors — Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas,
Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. — introduced companion legislation to
Green's bill.

"The Biden administration’s misinterpretation of these provisions has jeopardized

educational enrichment programs like hunting and archery, which play a critical role in our
next generation’s development and well-being," Cornyn said Tuesday after the House vote.
"This legislation would ensure these programs remain available in schools across the
nation, and I urge the Senate to pass it as soon as possible."

Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Sherrod Brown of
,

Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of
Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Amy Klobuchar of
Minnesota, and Mark Kelly of Arizona have all spoken out against the Biden
administration's interpretation of the BSCA.

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

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