Both of Montana’s US senators joined in a bipartisan effort Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol steps to push for money supporting public lands.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is set to expire at the end of September and each lawmaker is tied to plans to make the money available.
Senator Steve Daines (R- MT) is pushing to allow the LWCF to be reauthorized by a bill currently sitting in Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which he is a member. The reauthorization has taken place three times in the past. Even if the LWCF is reauthorized it needs to have money appropriated.
Senator Jon Tester (D- MT) is supporting legislation that would appropriate $425 million into the LWCF, of which more than $23 million would go to Montana in Fiscal Year 2019. Sen. Tester sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which advanced the bill out of committee last week.
