As lawmakers prepare to end the 118th Congress, the Senate on Thursday passed a sweeping outdoor recreation package unanimously. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it.
The “Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act,” H.R. 6492, is a collection of bills that advocacy groups and their allies on Capitol Hill have sought for decades. It passed the House earlier this year.
The legislation’s success at the eleventh hour comes after the collapse of a broad natural resources package and after a bipartisan wildlife plan stalled.
“This allows us to finally get into our parks and maintain it, maintain our outdoor activity,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) said about the “EXPLORE Act.” “It gives the vendors the ability to get things permitted so they can offer the services people have been clamoring for, and we saw the demand that was coming.”
