House Republicans said yes in a voice vote to a measure that will, in the end, hike permit costs on duck hunters by $120 million — a substantial amount that at least one conservative group is decrying as actually a tax increase.
The bill, which the GOP-dominated House agreed to, increases annual bird hunting permits — a move that hasn’t been made since the 1990s — from $15 to $25, Politico reported. And Americans for Prosperity isn’t happy.
“[T]he scrooges in Congress want to ask American families for even more of their paycheck to help fund a bloated, oversized government that cannot properly do the few things it is supposed to be doing, never mind all of the things it is not supposed to be doing,” the group posted on its blog.
The bill has bipartisan support, as well as the back of duck hunters, Politico reported. Some of the money from the permits will actually go toward bird conservation, the media outlet said.
But Americans for Prosperity said it was considering the bill a tax increase, regardless of the language that describes it as a permit or fee hike, and that Congress shouldn’t be taking such action in this economy.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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