President Trump Signs “Great American Outdoors Act”

On Tuesday, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act – legislation that some consider the most significant conservation bill so far this century.

Bipartisan Bill in Support of Parks

President Trump gave remarks prior to signing the bill alongside Vice President Mike Pence, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Sens. Steve Daines, and Cory Gardner. Among the attendees were senior administration officials, Congress members, Park Service leaders, as well as business executives from the fishing and gaming industry.

Ivanka Trump was also an attendee. President Trump’s daughter was an outspoken advocate for the legislation.

The bill was passed by the Senate 73-25 in June, with the House passing it 310-107. What the Great American Outdoors Act does essentially is provide funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), provides necessary money for park infrastructure repairs, and creates 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The National Park Service is lacking $11.9 billion in necessary repairs and deferred maintenance as of 2019, which covers 400 different sites across the nation for a total sum of 84 million acres of land. The legislation will be directing up to $6.65 billion to priority repairs and up to $3 billion for agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service. The LWCF will be receiving $900 million per year as part of the legislation.

Some don’t have a positive outlook on the act, expressing their criticism for its broad scope, such as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who believes that his state will be “disproportionately harmed” by the legislation.

America’s parks have seen a drop of roughly 40% from April 2019 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reports.