A bill to renew the temporary suspension of duty on calcium chloride phosphate phosphor activated by manganese and antimony.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I rise in support of the Sportsmen's Act of 2012, which is Senate bill No. 3525. This bill is a set of bipartisan proposals that enjoys overwhelming support in the sportsmen's community, and I was glad to see it clear another procedural hurdle just a short time ago. As the majority leader did, I urge my colleagues to give it final approval as quickly as we possibly can.

I wish to share some of the reasons why I think it is so important to get this bill to the President's desk. As the name implies, the Sportsmen's Act is focused on helping the Nation's 88 million sports men and women. They want, more than anything, responsible access to Federal lands and the conservation of critical habitat and species and that is exactly what this bill does.

By dedicating 1.5 percent of Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars to improve access for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes, sportsmen will be able to make better use of our public lands. By giving the States greater flexibility over the use of Federal dollars to build shooting ranges, sportsmen will have more places to safely sharpen their marksmanship skills and sighting their rifles for the hunting season.

By reauthorizing many critical habitat investment programs--for example, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act--we are ensuring that sportsmen will have places to continue our proud hunting and fishing heritage.

The benefits of the Sportsmen's Act of 2012 will fall most directly on America's hunters and anglers, but outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes will reap the rewards. By improving the outdoor experience of all Americans, I am hoping future generations will more readily take up our outdoor traditions.

I know my colleague from Colorado will join me in commending Senator Tester for putting this package together. He has taken ideas from both Democrats and Republicans to create the greatest legislative boon for sportsmen in a generation, and that is why over 50 of the leading sportsmen's groups in our country support his bill.

I am particularly grateful to Senator Tester for including a bipartisan provision I authored--the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act. This act will encourage the development of high- quality public shooting ranges by giving the States greater flexibility over Federal dollars they already receive for certain wildlife restoration and hunter education programs.

Since these funds come from an existing excise tax on shooting and archery equipment, this bipartisan proposal doesn't cost our taxpayers a dime and instead simply helps those paying into the system--which are primarily sportsmen--to get a better return on their investment.

Earlier this year, I asked our fellow Coloradans to tell me why they support my efforts and why they would like to see more high-quality shooting ranges, and I wish to close with some of their words.

Donald, from Pagosa Springs, CO, said:

We desperately need a range facility in our area to be able

to continue teaching our kids and those who are new to

hunting how to safely handle firearms.

From Gary, in Aurora, CO:

These ranges are not just a place to shoot. I cannot stress

this enough as we are seeing more and more clubs closing

down: We need more places to teach, enjoy and relax with

fellow shooters.

So in the spirit of those Coloradans, I urge my colleagues to support the Sportsmen's Act of 2012 and put these bipartisan, commonsense proposals to work for America's sportsmen as soon as possible.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 419.

Mr. President, we are going to complete work on this bill, that is the one we had prior to the clerk announcing the Defense authorization bill. We are going to complete the work on the sportsmen's bill before we go home for Thanksgiving. People are going to have an opportunity to vote for that bill, either for it or against it. As I indicated, it is a widely popular bill. If Republicans want to drag it down and kill it as they have a lot of other things, they will have that opportunity to do that. We have more than 20 bills that are important to sportsmen around the country.

As I said a few minutes ago, I cannot imagine why we are still fighting the battles of the last election. We are going to have a vote on cyber security. I spoke to the chairman of the committee a short time ago, Senator Lieberman. He is going to come over tomorrow and give a speech about the importance of this legislation. He and Senator Collins have worked so hard to come up with a bill. They have compromised and compromised and compromised until the point where people are going to have an opportunity to talk on this also. Senator Lieberman is going to talk about how important this bill is to protect our country.

I left the White House an hour or two ago. They believe, the President of the United States believes the cyber security bill is one of the most important issues facing this Congress now--not next Congress, now. I have said on a number of occasions that the Pentagon and the intelligence community believe this legislation is vitally important to the safety and security of our country. So before Thanksgiving we are going to finish the sportsmen's bill. The Republicans can either kill the cyber security bill--they have been following the lead of the Chamber of Commerce, which is an arm for the Republican Party anymore. It is just a front for the Republican Party. They spent huge amounts of money that they get from unknown sources to defeat Democrats. They wasted their money this time. But that is the way it is.

They are opposing this bill for not any logical reason, and then Senators Levin and McCain have asked to go to Defense authorization. I think, if this bill is as important as they say it is--and they say it is important--I know how Senator Levin and Senator McCain feel about it--it looks like they would clear up some of this stuff that is standing in the way of getting that bill done.

I think it is a bridge too far to complete the Defense authorization bill before we leave, but we need to get on that bill. We are not going to stall around on this and spend weeks on the Defense authorization bill. I have told the two managers of that bill, Senator McCain and Senator Levin, that is the case, and that is what we are going to do before Thanksgiving.

I would like to get out of here so we can go home to our States, our families, for Thanksgiving early, but if we have to stay here until the day before Thanksgiving, we are going to do it.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I want to explain my vote in support of cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 3525, the Sportsmen's Act of 2012. I am supporting cloture in an effort to move this important bill forward. It is a compilation of almost 20 different pieces of legislation that are important to the sportsmen's community. The Sportsmen's Act will increase habitat conservation while improving access to recreational fishing and hunting lands. The Senate deserves the chance to debate this bill, and I support invoking cloture on the motion to proceed in an effort to make it the pending business before the Senate.

However, I want to voice my opposition to a provision in this bill dealing with polar bears. The provision would allow hunters who killed polar bears in Canada before a ban was put in place to bring their remains into the United States. I believe this provision could encourage further hunting of polar bears, increase demand for polar bear trophies, and lead to a rise in poaching or illegal trade of polar bear parts. It could also stimulate demand for other exotic and endangered animal parts from around the globe.

Polar bears are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Their habitat is being threatened by global warming. We need to do everything we can to curb the hunting of these creatures for sport and avoid the unintended consequence of putting polar bears and other endangered species at risk.

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer) and the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) are necessarily absent.

I am going to proceed very briefly on my leader time. I ask consent that the next vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 2535 be vitiated and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4089, which is at the desk and is the House- passed Sportsmen's Heritage Act, the bill be read a third time and passed with the motion to reconsider laid upon the table.

For the record, again, this will allow a bill to get to the President's desk immediately.

Mr. President, very briefly, we could have tonight passed the House-passed Sportsmen's bill. It would have gone straight to the President for signature. That having been thwarted by our friends on the other side, I certainly think it is appropriate to vote to proceed to the measure before us and I intend to vote aye.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as the majority leader pointed out, this Sportsmen's Act is a compilation of 19 bills. Hunting season has already started. This bill benefits 90 million Americans who hunt, fish, and watch wildlife,

supported by 56 groups from the Nature Conservancy to the NRA. It reduces our deficit by some $7 million due to net gain over 10 years. This is an economic driver of outdoor industry, some $646 billion in direct spending to our economy. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to proceed and since it is 20 after 1, I would like to have a voice vote on it.