U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy urging a swift vote in the House on the bipartisan public lands package which passed the Senate yesterday. The letter was also sent to House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Raul Grijalva and Ranking Member Rob Bishop.
“We write to urge immediate House action on S. 47, the Natural Resources Management Act, recently favorably reported by the U.S. Senate by a strong bipartisan 92 to 8 vote,” the letter states. “The bill represents a bicameral and bipartisan agreement to achieve locally driven and nationally important public land management priorities. If enacted, it will be a historic win for conservation, management and protection of our public lands.”
Senator Martin Heinrich (N.M.) also signed the letter with Daines. Yesterday, the Senate passed the bipartisan public lands package with a vote of 92-8.
To read the full letter click HERE.
Background:
Among several other wins, the public lands package:
- Permanently reauthorizes LWCF
- Includes the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act which protects the Paradise Valley and Gardiner Basin from development
- Includes the WILD Act which strengthens wildlife conservation by reauthorizing sportsmen’s wildlife conservation programs, assists in the management of invasive species, and promotes anti-poaching programs
- Enacts long-awaited provisions supporting Sportsmen’s access and heritage
- Allows the permitting or leasing of public land for shooting ranges and target ranges
- Strengthens partnerships with our national parks by authorizing the Every Kid Outdoors program and the 21st Century Conservation Corps
- Requires federal agencies to manage and enhance wildlife species and habitats that respects statement management authority and private property rights
- Facilitates an “open until closed policy” on federal land by requiring federal public land to be open for hunting, fishing and recreational shooting unless the Secretary closes an area for public safety or applicable to other laws and only in consultation with state fish and wildlife agencies through public notice and comment
- Curtails obstructive litigation by requiring publishing of EAJA and Judgment Fund payments issued
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