Good News..S 47..with State Equity to be voted on this week!
The House early this week will vote on the broad, bipartisan public lands package that the Senate overwhelmingly passed earlier this month.
The “Natural Resources Management Act,” S. 47, is slated for consideration tomorrow under suspension of the rules, according to the House floor schedule for the week of Feb. 25.
House leadership typically places on the suspension calendar noncontroversial bills that are expected to pass easily. Under the expedited process, debate is limited, no amendments are allowed and the legislation requires the support of two-thirds of the House for passage. ( this is what we hoped for!..dke )
The Senate on Feb. 12, with a 92-8 vote, passed the lands package, which permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, among other things (E&E Daily, Feb. 13).
The final vote on the package of more than 110 bills was five years in the making — and marked a major legislative accomplishment for Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Advertisement
In remarks before the Alaska Legislature last week, Murkowski said the public lands package is “in good hands” in the House.
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) “tells me he’s got this covered,” Murkowski said to state lawmakers, who applauded at her mention of the lands package.
Murkowski and several other members of Congress attended a reception Feb. 13 on Capitol Hill hosted by the sportsmen’s group Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
Republicans and Democrats at the event, along with BHA leadership, cheered the long-awaited Senate passage of the package, which includes a section increasing and enhancing public lands access for hunters and fishers.
Along with Murkowski, Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) were spotted at the event, and urged their House colleagues to quickly pass the bill.
The legislation’s Sherpas in the House, Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah), in recent weeks had both said they hoped S. 47 would be placed on suspension in the lower chamber.
Reporter Geof Koss contributed.
