U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement upon the Great American Outdoors Act being signed into law.

“I was so proud to lead the successful effort to pass the Great American Outdoors Act into law. This historic new law represents the greatest investment in outdoor opportunities in generations,” Sen. Heinrich said. It fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund and finally puts real resources behind fixing long-running maintenance challenges in our national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management lands, and at Bureau of Indian Education schools. I am deeply grateful to all of the New Mexicans who worked for years to help us reach this major milestone for the outdoor places that we all love.

“All of this work on our outdoor places is especially important during this time of economic downturn. The Great American Outdoors Act will put thousands of Americans back to work, reignite local economies, create new jobs, help small businesses get back on their feet, and provide urgently needed stimulus to New Mexico’s outdoor recreation industry, one of the fastest growing parts of our economy before the onset of the pandemic.”

The Great American Outdoors Act is bipartisan legislation that Senator Heinrich led to fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and make record investments in our outdoor economy.

The bill includes a measure championed by Sen. Heinrich to extend funding to address maintenance backlogs at all four public lands agencies and the Bureau of Indian Education.