Date: October 31, 2019

Subject: Protecting Taxpayer Funds by Prioritizing Government Land Maintenance over New Acquisition

Description: Lee (R-UT) amendment to a continuing appropriations and health extenders bill, which would protect taxpayer funds from being used to acquire new land which the federal government cannot properly manage. Under the amendment, money within the Land and Water Conservation Fund would be prohibited from being used to acquire additional land, and instead the funds would be re-prioritized to care for the existing land owned by the federal government. This reform is particularly necessary considering the National Park Service currently has a land maintenance backlog of $12 billion and the federal government controls an astonishing and unsustainable 28% of the country's total land. ACU believes the private sector and the states are best equipped to manage land and believes it is absurd for the federal government to continue to indebt taxpayers to acquire more private land while it continually fails to manage the enormous land holdings already under its control.

Result: Amendment Rejected, 29-64

Democrat: 0 Yeas, 40 Nays, 5 Not voting
Republican: 29 Yeas, 23 Nays, 1 Not voting
Independent: 0 Yeas, 1 Nays, 1 Not voting

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