U.S. Rep.

Jason Altmire, D-4th, was the lead Democrat on a measure that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives that would restrict funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to enforce a gun ban on land it owns.The amendment was added to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill.Last Congress, the House passed an amendment by Altmire that allows individuals to legally possess firearms on land with the National Park Service or National Wildlife Refuge System, but not on lands owned or managed by the Corps.“This regulation essentially deprives gun owners of their Second Amendment rights,” Altmire said. “It is important for sportsmen to be able to defend themselves while they legally hunt and fish on property that the Corps owns and operates, much of which is in rural areas without adequate law enforcement.———U.S. Rep.

Mike Kelly, R-3rd, this past week announced his co-sponsorship of H.R. 2485, the All Children are Equal (ACE) Act, which addresses the way funding formulas are calculated under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.Title I provides funds to school districts for disadvantaged students.Under the current Title 1 funding formula, there is a “number weighting” provision that takes funds away from smaller urban and rural school districts, regardless of their poverty rate, and redirects those funds to some of the largest school districts, even if those larger districts have poverty rates that are lower than the smaller districts’ rates.The ACE Act would change this weighting provision to ensure that Title I funding is distributed more fairly and in accordance with the law’s intent. The bill also seeks to uphold the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment to ensure that all children are treated equally under the law, protecting children from being discriminated against because of their geographic location.“Each year, the Third District loses over $1.75 million of Title I funds because of a discriminatory number weighting provision that systematically keeps Title I funds from reaching those students most in need,” said Kelly.“For example, in the City of Erie School District, over 28 percent of the students are eligible for Title 1 funding. Yet because of the perverse effect of number weighting, Erie loses over $730,000 per school year, placing Erie in the top 25 urban districts in the country that lose Title I funds.”