Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is leading a charge by some Senate Democrats who are pushing back against the Biden administration's interpretation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which would cut funding for school archery and hunting programs.
Biden's Department of Education cut funding for school archery and hunting programs, which had been earmarked under the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a move that has hit a nerve with centrist Democrats, who occupy positions in swing states. Among the biggest critics of the move is Tester, who demanded the decision be reversed in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
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"In Montana, our schools have long offered shooting sport and hunter safety classes that play an important role in teaching safety and personal responsibility to students," Tester wrote in his letter, obtained by Fox News. "Outdoor recreation is foundational to our western way of life and any reduction of federal support for these educational programs is unacceptable."
"Republicans and Democrats worked together last summer to pass BSCA, which aims to improve the safety and well-being of American students while protecting law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights," he continued. "However, it appears that the Department of Education has interpreted this law in a manner that may reduce schools’ ability to offer important and long-established gun training classes."
Tester argued that the move is an affront to not just learning but student safety as well.
"By misinterpreting which activities are now supported by ESEA, the Department of Education is limiting learning opportunities critical to student safety," he wrote. "I urge the Department of Education to reconsider the interpretation of BSCA in a way that does not limit learning opportunities for students and does not present barriers to critical hunter safety courses."
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Perhaps the Senate's most well-known centrist Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), expressed his own frustrations with the interpretation.
"Any defunding of schools who offer critical programs like archery and hunting clubs would be a gross misinterpretation of the legislation and yet another example of this administration trying to advance their radical agenda with blatant disregard for the law," he told Fox News on Wednesday.