Conservation, parks funding bill passes Senate

Praise abounded for the Senate passing Wednesday what some are calling the greatest conservation bill in decades.

In a 73-25 vote, the Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act which gives permanent funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides $12 billion to work on deferred maintenance in U.S. national parks.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., both of whom are original co-sponsors of the bill, each held press conferences on its passage Wednesday.

"This has been a great day in the U.S. Senate," Daines said. "We made history."

He said the next step is to get the bill passed as quickly as possible in the House, and he is working with the House leadership and representatives to get that done.

"It's going to take everybody working together in a bipartisan way," Daines said.

Tester said he has been an advocate for the LWCF for 20 years, since he was in the Montana Senate.

"This isn't your ordinary day in Montana," he said. "This is a historic day."

He said the Senate passage is of the long-awaited and significant permanent funding of LWCF.

"I never thought I would be able to say those words," he said.

LWCF uses money from oil and gas fees in offshore drilling to fund conservation work, and historically has been authorized for $900 million a year, but has never been fully funded.

Last year, Tester and Daines helped spearhead its permanent authorization - it had to be re-authorized by each Congress previously - and now its permanent funding at its full authorization awaits passage by the House of Representatives and being signed into law by President Donald Trump.

Trump said earlier this year he would sign the bill.

Daines said the $12 million in park deferred maintenance is for the amount National Park Service said is needed to make up that maintenance.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock also praised the Senate passage of the bill.

"For over 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has supported our outdoor economy in Montana," he said in a statement released Wednesday. "Though long overdue, I am glad that the Senate finally followed through on permanent, full-funding for the LWCF and addressed the backlog of maintenance for our public lands. I especially want to applaud Sen. Jon Tester who has been unwavering in his fight for this legislation for over a decade."

Bullock, who cannot run for re-election as governor due to term limits, is facing Daines and Green Party candidate Wendie Fredrickson in the race for Daines' Senate seat.

"Call me crazy, but I believe it shouldn't take Congress this long to follow through on its commitments to the American people," Bullock said in the release. "Our political system has been trapped in gridlock caused by party leaders and special interests. While I also applaud Steve Daines efforts in helping get this across the finish line, Montanans deserve leadership that stands up for public lands and the best interests of the people of our state every day - not just in election years."

When asked about the fact the bill passed during an election year, Daines said, his record shows his support of LWCF and other conservation efforts.

He said while he was in the U.S. House he helped pass protection for the North Fork of the Flathead - work started by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., - legislation to protect the Yellowstone Gateway and others.

He said conservation work is of such importance that it took something like the Great American Outdoors Act to bring together a divided Congress.

He said he spent an hour earlier this year talking with Trump about the importance of the Act, and, at the end, Trump said he would sign it.

Tester said years of virtually universal support of conservation groups and of the American public, helped bridge the divide in Congress.

"I think that continual drumbeat over the years finally broke the dam," he said.

He said he believes the lack of priority in congressional leadership in past years kept the funding from passing.

He said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Trump reversing their position on the bill is what finally brought it to the floor for passage.

When asked about the election-year passage, Tester said, that would be a good question for McConnell and Trump.

"It is the elephant in the room. I really can't answer that, in truthfullness," he said, adding that the important part is that the Senate just fully funded and authorized "the best conservation tool at the federal level," adding that it now would take an act of Congress to reduce the funding.