Federal spending bill boosts Park Service budget

A massive spending bill that passed Congress last week will give the Park Service a boost in its centennial year, but didn’t get support from Montana’s senators. The $1.12 trillion spending bill for 2016 includes a 4 percent increase for the Park Service, a $94 million increase.

The bill also increases the Centennial Challenge by $5 million to $15 million total, which the program matches federal dollars with private dollars from donors like the Glacier National Park Conservancy. In addition, it adds $55 million to the Service’s construction account, to address some of the backlog in the Park Service’s deferred maintenance.

“The deal clearly shows that congressional appropriators and leadership recognize that our national parks need and deserve an increase in federal resources, and we commend them for reaching such a promising agreement. These are unquestionably the best funding levels for parks we have seen in years, and will be critical for providing needed rangers and making needed repairs in preparation for the expected influx of visitors for next year’s Centennial of the National Park Service,” said John Garder, budget director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a Parks advocacy group.

The bill also extends the land and Water Conservation Fund for three years and provides $450 million in funding for the program, which is used by a host of land management agencies. Many of Montana’s fishing access sites, for example, were funded through the Conservation Fund.

But both Montana Sens. Steve Daines, a Republican and Jon Tester, a Democrat, voted against the measure. Congressmen Ryan Zinke supported, but noted there was a lot he didn’t like about the bill. The bill passed the House 316-113 and the Senate 65-33.

“Like all massive pieces of legislation, the omnibus contains the good, the bad and the ugly; but LWCF, visa reforms, funding our troops and lifting the ban on crude (oil) exports is far too important to Montana and our national security to vote no. In addition, the bill provides much-needed tax relief, restores PILT funding, stops full implementation of ObamaCare and helps promote Montana energy. Weighed against the alternative, I made a command decision for vote yes,” Zinke said.

Daines supported the LWCF portion of the bill, but other sections were just too much to stomach, he said. The bill was 2,000 pages long.

“I am pleased to see that several Montana priorities I worked for were included in this final package — a three-year reauthorization of LWCF, a lifting of the oil export ban and permanent tax relief provisions for Montana families, farmers, tribes and small businesses. However, this same bill fails to address critical wildfire funding challenges facing the Forest Service and does nothing to secure much-needed reforms to the way our forests are managed. And it includes CISA — a controversial cybersecurity bill that threatens Montanans’ privacy and civil liberties. It’s irresponsible for Washington to continue increasing government spending and our national debt, while doing nothing to secure necessary savings and long-overdue reforms to Washington’s broken culture,” he said.

The firefighting portion of the bill boosted funding for firefighting, but didn’t create a longterm fix. Daines and Tester both have advocated treating fires like natural disasters, so they don’t drain funding every year from the base Forest Service budget.

Tester said it was a tough vote.

“There are many things in this bill that I like, many things that I fought for, and even wrote myself,” he said. “There are things that aren’t in this bill that should have been, but instead they got sidelined. Then there is also some crap in here, garbage that should have been tossed out, but wasn’t. But when I look at the whole package, my biggest concern is that fact that this bill saddles our kids and grandkids with over $680 billion in additional debt.”