Trump signs bipartisan bill on conservation of U.S. lands
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed legislation Tuesday that will devote nearly $3 billion a year to conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands after its overwhelming approval by both parties in Congress.
“There hasn’t been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect,” Trump said, referring to the 26th president, who created many national parks, forests and monuments.
Supporters say the Great American Outdoors Act is the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. Opponents countered that the money isn’t enough to cover the estimated $20 billion maintenance backlog on federally owned lands.
The Great American Outdoors Act requires full, permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and addresses the maintenance backlog facing national parks and public lands. The law calls for spending about $900 million a year — double current spending — on the conservation fund and another $1.9 billion per year on improvements at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and rangelands.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the law will help create more than 100,000 jobs.
The maintenance backlog has been a problem for decades, through Republican and Democratic administrations.
The House and the Senate cleared the bill by overwhelming bipartisan margins this summer. No Democratic lawmakers attended the ceremony and Trump, in his remarks, credited only Republicans.
Asked why Democrats weren’t recognized, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was because Democrats and Republicans — including the administration — have yet to agree on extending now-expired coronavirus relief payments and protections.
Her answer focused on Senate Democrats’ rejection of a proposal by Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., for a one-week extension of a special federal unemployment benefit.
“The only thing we’re recognizing about congressional Democrats right now is how appalling it is that there are Americans who are going without paychecks because they refused to partner with Martha McSally, Republicans and the president in ensuring that those payments go out,” McEnany said.
Among the conservation law’s congressional champions are Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana. Both represent states where the outdoor economy and tourism at sites such as the Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone national parks play an outsize role.
Daines and Gardner persuaded Trump to support the legislation, which Gardner has made the cornerstone of his reelection campaign.
Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Tom Udall of New Mexico also helped get the bill passed. Cantwell has spent years working to reauthorize and fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and she worked with Gardner and Daines to make it happen.
“For all of us who’ve fought for years to protect our public lands and invest in our outdoor recreation economy, today is a historic win for America’s beloved shared spaces,” Cantwell said in a statement that criticized environmental and public health rollbacks by Trump that benefit the oil and gas industry.
The law’s mostly Republican opponents complained that it would not eliminate an estimated $20 billion maintenance backlog on 640 million acres of federally owned lands. The legislation authorizes $9.5 billion for maintenance over five years.
Lawmakers from Gulf Coast states also complained that their states get too small a share of revenue from offshore oil and gas drilling that is used to replenish the conservation fund.
Ivanka Trump, the Republican president’s daughter and adviser who supported the legislation, described it at the ceremony as a “great legacy” for the administration as well as the country.