On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the Great American Outdoors Act (H.R. 1957) by a large bipartisan vote of 310-107. The bill now goes to the White House where President Trump has signaled his support – in March he tweeted praise for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The ideas at the core of the Great American Outdoors Act — providing mandatory annual funding of $900 million to the LWCF and offering billions toward fixing the nation’s crumbling parks and public lands — have been debated in Congress for years. But similar legislative efforts have failed to gain traction until President Trump withdrew his opposition as a means of sending support to two endangered GOP senators - Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and Steve Daines (R-Montana). Other lawmakers have credited the legislation’s success to the groundwork built by its supporters in the House of Representatives, who relied on the fact that public lands are broadly popular across political parties and that the LWCF contributes to projects in every congressional district.
