Senate lines up major national parks, federal lands bill for potential vote

The Senate on Thursday lined up a major federal lands bill for a potential vote next week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) action paves the way for a procedural vote on the measure, which could happen after the upper chamber finishes consideration of the Middle East foreign policy bill.

The legislation would allow the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a key revenue stream for parks and recreation facilities, to operate indefinitely. Its authority expired last October.

{mosads}It also includes provisions aimed at increasing recreational access to federal land, and has dozens of specific local provisions to add to national parks and other land holdings.

The legislation, which has broad bipartisan support, came close to passing through the Senate in December, and was expected to easily pass through the House as well.

But Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held it up, leading to an impassioned late-night exchange on the Senate floor between Lee and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

“While we are disappointed that this package could not pass last year, we remain committed to its provisions and the spirit of our bicameral agreement,” Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the lead sponsors of the legislation, said in a statement earlier this month when they reintroduced the lands bill.

“The vast majority of bills in this package have been considered through the regular order process and have strong support from members of both parties. States and communities throughout the west, in particular, are counting on us to work together to pass them into law.”

Murkowski is chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which assembled the agreement, and Cantwell was its ranking Democrat in the last Congress.

Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee, both participated in negotiations toward the Senate’s package and said they plan to usher it through the House if it passes the upper chamber.