The congressional champions of the legislation to designate bison as the National Mammal of the United States have been clearing away the procedural hurdles in the U.S. House of Representatives in preparation for formally pushing passage of the bill in that chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since passage of the Bison Legacy Act in the U.S. Senate in December. U.S. Reps William Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Kristi Noem (R-SD) have been in negotiations with the leadership of the House Oversight and Reform committee to move similar legislation in the House. The previous chair of that committee, U.S. Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) had refused to consider any legislation deemed to be classified as commemorative. The new chair, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has indicated more receptivity to considering the Legacy Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislation is being sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep Jeff Fortenberry (R-NY), and by Rep. Clay. In addition to Fortenberry, Clay and Noem, the current list of co-sponsors of the Bison Legacy Act in the House is: Yevette Clarke (D-NY), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO). Kevin Kramer (R-ND), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Ron Kinds (D-WI), John Kline (R-MN), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) and Joes Serrano (D-NY)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We encourage members to ask their Representative to join on as a cosponsor of the Bison Legacy Act,\u201d said NBA Executive Director Dave Carter. \u201cAs we saw in December, legislative support for this initiative generates extensive positive coverage. Full implementation of this bill would be a significant public relations success for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n