Senate OKs Biggest Conservation Funding Bill in Half Century (2)

The Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would permanently fund a popular, bipartisan conservation program and provide up to $9.5 billion over the next five years to repair national parks and public lands.

Lawmakers touted the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) as the most significant conservation legislation in at least 50 years. It passed the Senate 73-25.

The bill would make funding mandatory at $900 million a year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, meaning the program would no longer be subject to the annual appropriations process.

It also would create a new trust fund from ...