Date: June 17, 2020

Subject: Fueling Government Land-Grabbing through Mandatory Spending for the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Description: This bill, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, further expands the federal government's enormous land holdings. Most concerningly, the bill makes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) a mandatory spending program (as opposed to discretionary) thus guaranteeing $900 million a year in spending even during economic downturns. The LWCF is used to expand federal land holdings, which produces perverse results that harm private property rights through voracious landgrabs and restrictions on the extraction of mineral rights. ACU believes spending should always be discretionary and not mandatory because the people should always have a say in how their money will be spent; scarce taxpayer resources should be reserved for essential government functions and not for further expanding federal land control -- especially considering the federal government already controls an astonishing and unsustainable 28% of the country's total land.

Result: Bill Passed, 73-25

Democrat: 43 Yeas, 0 Nays, 2 Not voting
Republican: 28 Yeas, 25 Nays, 0 Not voting
Independent: 2 Yeas, 0 Nays, 0 Not voting

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