A coalition of eleven manufacturing groups sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate urging passage of The Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), which would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) while providing billions to address the backlog of deferred maintenance on the nation’s public lands; and, passage of the Bipartisan Buy America Amendment to S. 3422, which would apply Buy America requirements to construction materials used in the newly created deferred maintenance fund for national parks and public lands.
The June 9, 2020 letter states “S. 3422 would address long overdue infrastructure challenges and address the maintenance backlog in national parks and public lands [National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) calculates that these four agencies had a combined deferred maintenance backlog totaling more than $19 billion. This includes much-needed improvements and repairs to roads, trails, recreation sites, bridges, buildings, and water systems.”
“These projects have the potential to put many thousands of Americans back to work with American made equipment, components, and products, as the American economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Buy America preferences, as outlined in this amendment, ensure taxpayer money is reinvested right back into local communities and U.S. manufacturers, supporting good-paying jobs and the economy, rather than being sent overseas to the lowest bidder. With tens of millions of unemployed people, U.S. manufacturing is key to jump starting the economy.”
