WE DID IT! Thank you to the 483 Members of Congress and the thousands of organizations, businesses, associations, and advocates who were instrumental in passage of the Great American Outdoors Act which fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)!
This is a once in a generation achievement for conservation that has been 55 years in the making. How did it finally get done? Read below to learn about how this amazing victory happened in the past months, after years of building support across the country and with Members of Congress.
Introducing the Great American Outdoors Act
On March 9, 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) was introduced by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) and quickly garnered 58 additional bipartisan cosponsors. The legislation provides full, permanent funding for LWCF, as well as funding for the maintenance backlog on our federal public lands. Longtime supporters and sponsors of the LWCF Permanent Funding Act, Senators Manchin and Gardner came together to introduce this bipartisan legislation after the President announced on Twitter he would support a bill to fully fund LWCF and support National Park maintenance funding.
After successful introduction of the bill and placement on the Senate calendar to be considered shortly on the Floor, the COVID-19 crisis took hold in the United States and Congress shifted focus to emergency relief legislation. However just before Memorial Day, Majority Leader McConnell announced that the Senate would consider the Great American Outdoors Act in June – a major step towards passing this legislation through the Senate.
Senate Action
On June 8th, the Senate officially started debate on the Great American Outdoors Act. Working with our champions on both sides of the aisle, thousands of LWCF Coalition partners and supporters flooded their Senators with messages urging that the bill not be amended or derailed as it cleared 6 procedural votes before final passage through the Senate on June 17th by a vote of 73-25. The LWCF Senate Champions who were key to the bill’s passage include Senators Manchin, Gardner, Cantwell, Daines, Tester, Alexander, Heinrich, Burr, Udall, and many others. This large vote margin signaled the overwhelming bipartisan support for LWCF and our public lands but was just the first step towards full funding LWCF.
(Note: While the text of the legislation remained the same, due to Senate procedure the actual bill the Senate debated and passed was H.R. 1957.)
Senate Roll Call Vote
House Action
Before the Senate even started debate, the House of Representatives was also working swiftly on the Great American Outdoors Act with Representatives Cunningham (D-SC), Simpson (R-ID) and 10 other members from both parties, introducing a companion bill on June 4th. The companion legislation (HR. 7092) has 254 bipartisan cosponsors in total.
Just less than a month after Senate Passage, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that the House would vote on the Senate passed Great American Outdoors Act on July 22nd. In a historic moment, the House of Representatives passed this landmark legislation to fully and permanently fund LWCF by a vote of 310-107. As in the Senate, outstanding bipartisan support led to large vote margins, affirming Congress’ bipartisan commitment to the program and to this historic milestone. For the first time ever, both the Senate and House had passed legislation to fully and permanently fund LWCF!
House Roll Call Vote
Great American Outdoors Act Becomes Law
With House and Senate passage in the rearview mirror, just the President’s signature separated this legislation from becoming law. On August 4, 2020 the President signed the Great American Outdoors Act – ensuring full funding of LWCF forever, as well as investment in the deferred maintenance backlog on our public lands – signaling the greatest conservation achievement in half a century.
Passage of the Great American Outdoors Act and full, permanent funding of LWCF didn’t happen overnight and no one person or organization was responsible for this success. It took the commitment over many decades from thousands of advocates and lawmakers from every corner of the country. Thousands of phone calls, letters, op-eds, social media posts, DC fly-ins, press conferences, field events... this has been a robust, multifaceted, grassroots campaign by stakeholders not just representing the land conservation community, but the outdoor recreation industry, small businesses, veterans, local elected officials and community development agencies, recreation users of every stripe from hikers and paddlers to climbers and snowmobilers, hunters and anglers, city parks advocates to wilderness and climate activists... all those seeking to expand outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans from their own backyards to the deepest backcountry. To each and every one of you we say: THANK YOU!
