Senator Enzi Works to Make Parks Legislation Fiscally Responsible

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, raised a budget point of order Monday under the Senate’s pay-as-you-go rule against the Great American Outdoors Act, which would increase the deficit by more than $17 billion over the next 10 years. Enzi, the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, said the bill is the latest in an unprecedented spending spree Congress has been on for the past year.

Previously, Enzi pushed to include an amendment that would have created a fully paid-for fund to address the deferred maintenance backlogs at federal land management agencies without adding to our debt. The amendment raised park entrance fees and America the Beautiful passes by $5 and $20, respectively, and certain visitor visa fees by $16 and $25.

Enzi also noted that the bill would make new funding for the Land and Water Conservation (LWCF) mandatory, which would add $7.7 billion to the debt over the next 10 years and even more in later years. Enzi said that making LWCF spending mandatory would do nothing to ease our current debt crisis and would remove important Congressional oversight over how the money is spent.