CONTACT: Ryan Billingham, Communications Director, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, 608-208-1129 (office), 608-213-6972 (mobile/text), or ryan@conservationvoters.org
MADISON – The House of Representatives, under Speak Paul Ryan, failed to permanently reauthorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) before its Sept. 30 deadline.
Executive Director Kerry Schumann issued this statement on behalf of Wisconsin’s conservation voters:
“It’s outrageous Congress is allowing the Land and Water Conservation Fund to expire. It’s even more appalling that Wisconsin native Speaker Paul Ryan has ignored the deadline and done nothing. Speaker Ryan may be on his way out, but he still needs to do his job. The people of this state and his district care very much about this crucial public lands program. They care about their city parks. They care about the Ice Age Trail. They care about Wisconsin’s wilderness and state parks. But the Congress Ryan leads – the most anti-environmental in recent history – has now turned its back on our nation’s best parks program, adding to the list of its many attacks on our air, water, lands, and public health. The LWCF has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. Its expiration is a clear failure of leadership, starting with Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to not schedule votes. Wisconsin communities need Congress to fix this and save America’s best parks program, now.”
