Biden admin withholds funds from schools with archery, hunting programs

The Biden administration is withholding federal funding for hunting and archery programs at elementary and secondary schools. According to a report from Fox News, the Biden administration has determined that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which became law in 2022, precludes those types of classes from receiving federal funding. 

The BSCA was passed in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting and included an amendment which prohibits certain federal funds from providing “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.” 

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In the Fox News article, the National Archery in the Schools Program boasts 1.3 million students from nearly 9,000 schools across 49 states who are enrolled in archery courses. Some of those schools have already canceled plans to include archery or hunting education courses in their curriculum due to the Education Department guidance.

“We know when students get involved in the shooting sports, like the National Archery in Schools Program, a lot of great things happen to them. They learn focus, they become part of a team, they represent their school, many for the first time. They’re taught safety, responsibility and things we believe help them become better adults as they move into adulthood,” Tommy Floyd of the National Archery in the Schools Program told Fox News on Tuesday, Aug. 2.

The Independent Journal Review and Daily Wire report Republican Sens. John Cornyn, Texas, and Thom Tillis, N.C., wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, “The Department mistakenly believes that the BSCA precludes funding these enrichment programs…such an interpretation contradicts congressional intent and the text of the BSCA.”

The Biden administration confirmed to Fox News through a Department of Education statement that it is “administering the bipartisan law as written by Congress.” But Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., are telling the Biden administration they agree with Cornyn and Tillis, and are working to get the funding decision changed.

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