Portman, Carper Applaud Committee Passage of Bipartisan Bill to Ensure Remaining Stamps to Promote Wildlife Conservation Are Sold

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Tom Carper (D-DE) applauded the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s passage of their bipartisan Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act which requires the U.S. Postal Service to sell the approximately 41 million remaining Saving Vanishing Species Stamps left in stock. When the program began in 2011, the U.S. Postal Service printed 100 million stamps to help promote wildlife conservation. 

“We owe it to our future generations to preserve our planet’s rich wildlife and natural resources so they can continue to be enjoyed,” said Portman. “This successful stamp program has raised millions of dollars to fund conservation without any taxpayer money. I applaud the passage of our bipartisan legislation in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and I am hopeful my Senate colleagues will join me in ensuring that every last stamp is sold.”

“Saving our world’s most threatened wildlife from extinction requires working collaboratively to combat threats like poaching and habitat loss. By purchasing these stamps, Americans will be able to directly contribute to protecting the at-risk species we love,” said Carper, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “I’m pleased that our commonsense, bipartisan bill moved one step closer to reaching President Biden’s desk.”

NOTE: On September 20, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service issued the Saving Vanishing Species Stamp, depicting an endangered Amur tiger cub, priced above the normal price of a first-class stamp. The difference in price from this first-class stamp is transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to support the five Multinational Species Conservation Funds to protect tigers, rhinoceroses, Asian and African elephants, marine turtles, and great apes. These programs target poaching, illegal wildlife trade, habitat protection, and projects to incorporate species conservation into community development.

Through purchases of 59 million tiger stamps to-date, out of a total of 100 million stamps, Americans have raised more than $6.5 million for conservation projects. This funding has helped support 135 on-the-ground conservation projects in 37 countries. These projects have leveraged more than $25 million in matching funds provided by partners.

Portman and former Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) authored legislation that was signed into law to extend the sale of the stamp through September 2018. The FY2019, 2020, and 2021 government funding bills each included a provision requiring the U.S. Postal Service to continue selling the stamps through the end of the fiscal year. This legislation would require the U.S. Postal Service to sell the approximately 41 million remaining stamps left in stock. 

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