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Hike the Hill 2015 – Day 2 Update

So far I’ve visited with 5 Senate offices (Klobuchar, Peters, Baldwin, Sanders, Leahy) and 7 House members (Nolan (D-MN), Cramer (R-ND), Huizenga (R-MI), Welch (D-VT), Thompson (R-PA), Duffy (R-WI). Our strategy is to (1) try to get as many Republican co-sponsors as we can (we only have Paulsen from MN as an “R”); and (2) to get the respective House and Senate Committees to schedule the bill for hearings. This latter is tricky since both House and Senate are now controlled by Republicans, who, understandably are mainly interested in bills that carry out the Republican agenda. Bills like S. 403 and HR. 799, innocuous as they are, can still be viewed as increasing the federal footprint, threatening private landowners, adding to the NPS infrastructure that they already can’t maintain. Our job is to show how our bill can actually work to the advantage of the Republican agenda.

My meetings in the Senate thus far have been with Senators who have already sponsored the bill. I met with Senator Klobuchar personally to thank her for her sponsorship of S. 403, and the way she’s championed our efforts in the past. We strategized with the staffs of Senators Peters, Baldwin, Leahy, and Sanders about how to get Republican Senators on board, and I’ll be meeting with the staffs of Senators Portman (OH) and Hoeven (ND) tomorrow, along with the rest of the sponsoring Senators. I’ll keep you posted—wish me luck!