Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. MENG. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would allow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officers to be placed in diplomatic posts abroad in an effort to combat the illegal killing of African elephants.

Honestly, this is an activity in which the Fish and Wildlife Service already engages. What the underlying bill does in section 1004, however, which I think is commendable, is explicitly authorizes this activity in law for the first time.

Unfortunately, I feel the authorization is overly narrow because it allows only one FWS officer to be placed in a single country at a time. I think this was likely a drafting oversight and simply wish to allow more than one FWS officer to be assigned to a foreign country at a time.

Let me be clear. This amendment does not mandate that multiple officers be sent abroad. It does not authorize any additional funds for these activities. It does not require an increase in any way on the number of FWS officers placed abroad. It simply allows more than one FWS officer to be placed in a single country at any given time.

In reality, this amendment could, should we wish it, result in a net decrease in the number of FWS law enforcement agents placed abroad, resulting in lowered costs to the U.S. Government for these activities.

Imagine a scenario in which elephant poaching and ivory trafficking was running rampant in 20 different nations and we wished to assist in the combating of these activities by leveraging the expertise and experience of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers.

As written, we would only be allowed to place one officer in each country, for a total of 20 total officers deployed internationally.

What if the Secretary of the Interior determined, however, that formulating a task force of five specialists, who would be deployed jointly, as needed, would be the best possible course of action to combat the poaching of African elephants?

As written, the SHARE Act would force this task force to be split up and housed in five different African nations. The amendment before us, however, would permit the entire task force to be housed under one roof.

At the end of the day, housing the entire task force in a single location could be much more effective strategically and could result in significant savings to the U.S. Government if it is housed in the nation with the lowest cost of living.

Mr. Chair, no matter how one may feel about the broader bill before us, I feel that section 1004 of the bill is a worthwhile section. I hope you will support my amendment seeking to improve it.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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