Headline Roundup • June 17th, 2020
Major Conservation Bill Passes Senate with Bipartisan Backing
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Featured Coverage of this Story
Deseret News
The outdoors are playing a major role in supporting America through the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people are turning to outdoor spaces as the best venue for mental health breaks, recreation and meaningful activity that is safe and socially distanced.
With unrest and turmoil upon us again, sparked by the senseless killing of George Floyd, the outdoors has another opportunity to be a force for good and positive change.
Outdoor experiences, access and enjoyment should be the ultimate equalizer. Playing outside, recreating in the wild and enjoying nature should be colorblind,...
Public lands activists and a handful of lawmakers have long pushed for full, permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal program established in 1964 that uses offshore oil and gas revenues to establish and protect parks, wildlife refuges, forests and wildlife habitat.
But anti-federal-land conservatives, appalled at the thought of more money being used to expand and improve the federal estate, have always stood in the way. The program has been funded at the full $900 million allowed by law only twice in its history.
Now...
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a major conservation bill that would permanently direct $900 million a year to a long-standing federal program aimed at acquiring and protecting public lands.
The 73-25 vote in the Republican-led chamber was a rare bipartisan effort led by Republican Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana, as well as Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Both Gardner and Daines are up for re-election this year.
The Great American Outdoors Act, if enacted into law, would insulate the Land and Water Conservation...
