The Great American Outdoors Act has passed the Senate with solid bipartisan support 鈥� but bipartisan doesn鈥檛 mean unanimous. A group of 73 voted yes while 25 voted no, including all of the senators from public land-heavy Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
Among other things, the Act would pay off the approximate across national parks and would fully, permanently fund the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund.
That in 1964 to use royalties from offshore oil and gas production for things like park creation, conservation and development. It has rarely been fully funded as the oil and gas revenues are elsewhere.
Those behind the bill were ecstatic, like Montana Senator Steve Daines who released a statement , 鈥淭oday, we passed the most important conservation bill for Montana and the nation in decades 鈥� one that will increase public access to our public lands, support our national parks and importantly, protect our Montana outdoor way of life.鈥�
However, those who voted against it had several concerns.
Senator Mike Enzi in Wyoming voted no after a proposed amendment to increase park fees and prices for certain foreign visitor visas wasn鈥檛 added in. Without that change, he feared it would add to the federal deficit.
鈥淚f we keep adding new mandatory spending without adding new revenue, Congress will be forced at some point to eliminate mandatory spending or get new funding streams that survive well into the future,鈥� he .
Then there was the fact that the bill would lead to more acreage becoming federally-owned public land, a controversial topic for many western lawmakers, including those and Idaho鈥檚 Mike Crapo.
Crapo the bill didn鈥檛 include permanent funding for programs that help fund schools and projects in areas surrounded by public land.
鈥淚nstead of focusing primarily on acquiring more lands, federal conservation dollars should go toward maintaining the lands the federal government already owns,鈥� he stated. 鈥淢oreover, Congress missed a great opportunity to include permanent reauthorizations of the and programs that help meet the federal obligation to rural counties that house federal land.鈥�
Regardless, the bill now heads to the House, where it鈥檚 expected to pass again with bipartisan support before stopping on the president鈥檚 desk. President Donald Trump he鈥檒l sign it into law once it鈥檚 there. Find reporter Madelyn Beck on Twitter
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