America the Beautiful Act
Download PDFSponsored by
Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT]
ID: D000618
Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 439.
June 16, 2026
Introduced
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
Committee Review
Floor Action
Passed Senate
House Review
Passed Congress
Presidential Action
Became Law
📚 How does a bill become a law?
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Bill Summary
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the intellectually bankrupt members of Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The America the Beautiful Act (because who wouldn't want to associate themselves with something as majestic as that?) aims to reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. How noble. In reality, it's just a vehicle for politicians to grandstand about their love of nature while lining their pockets with donations from special interest groups.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill extends the fund's authorization until 2033, increases funding by $100 million (because who needs fiscal responsibility?), and modifies the use of funds to prioritize projects that receive donations of at least 15% of total costs. Oh, and it also adds some bureaucratic busywork, like requiring annual lists of projects and reports to Congress. Because what's a bill without some pointless paperwork?
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects: national parks, public lands, the Department of the Interior, and various special interest groups who will no doubt be lining up to donate (read: bribe) their way into the politicians' good graces. And, of course, the American taxpayer, who will foot the bill for this legislative largesse.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a symptom of a deeper disease: the corrupting influence of money in politics. By prioritizing projects that receive significant donations, Congress is essentially creating a pay-to-play system where those with the deepest pockets get to dictate how public funds are spent. It's a classic case of "legislative logrolling," where politicians trade favors and votes for campaign contributions and other perks.
In conclusion, the America the Beautiful Act is a masterclass in legislative cynicism. It's a bill that promises to protect our national treasures while actually serving as a vehicle for corruption and cronyism. So, let's all take a moment to applaud the genius of our elected officials, who have once again managed to turn a noble idea into a self-serving farce. Bravo, Congress. Bravo.
Related Topics
💰 Campaign Finance Network
Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance
This bill has 10 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
ID: K000383
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND]
ID: C001096
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]
ID: W000805
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]
ID: S001232
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
ID: S001181
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
ID: M001153
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO]
ID: H000273
Top Contributors
10
Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA]
ID: M001243
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ]
ID: G000574
Top Contributors
10
Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]
ID: C001035
Top Contributors
10
Donor Network - Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT]
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 44 nodes and 45 connections
Total contributions: $828,975
Top Donors - Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT]
Showing top 25 donors by contribution amount
Industry Impact
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 2 helped.
- +Construction & Engineering confidence 0.90
Section 2(h)(2) discusses project selection and prioritization for deferred maintenance, which may involve construction and engineering services, benefiting the industry through potential contracts and projects.
- +Pipelines & Energy Infrastructure confidence 0.70
Section 2(e)(2)(B) mentions 'transportation projects', which could include energy infrastructure such as pipelines, potentially benefiting the industry through maintenance and restoration projects.
Project 2025 Policy Matches
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.
Introduction
AI Analysis:
"The America the Beautiful Act and Project 2025 policy have weak alignment as they touch on the theme of government accountability, but the bill's focus is on national parks and public land funding, whereas the policy emphasizes the need for constitutional accountability and reducing the influence of the Administrative State. The connection between the two is tangential at best."
— 7 — Foreword Instead, party leaders negotiate one multitrillion-dollar spending bill—several thousand pages long—and then vote on it before anyone, literally, has had a chance to read it. Debate time is restricted. Amendments are prohibited. And all of this is backed up against a midnight deadline when the previous “omnibus” spending bill will run out and the federal government “shuts down.” This process is not designed to empower 330 million American citizens and their elected representatives, but rather to empower the party elites secretly nego- tiating without any public scrutiny or oversight. In the end, congressional leaders’ behavior and incentives here are no differ- ent from those of global elites insulating policy decisions—over the climate, trade, public health, you name it—from the sovereignty of national electorates. Public scrutiny and democratic accountability make life harder for policymakers—so they skirt it. It’s not dysfunction; it’s corruption. And despite its gaudy price tag, the federal budget is not even close to the worst example of this corruption. That distinction belongs to the “Administrative State,” the dismantling of which must a top priority for the next conservative President. The term Administrative State refers to the policymaking work done by the bureaucracies of all the federal government’s departments, agencies, and millions of employees. Under Article I of the Constitution, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” That is, federal law is enacted only by elected legislators in both houses of Congress. This exclusive authority was part of the Framers’ doctrine of “separated powers.” They not only split the federal government’s legislative, executive, and judicial powers into different branches. They also gave each branch checks over the others. Under our Constitution, the legislative branch—Congress—is far and away the most powerful and, correspondingly, the most accountable to the people. In recent decades, members of the House and Senate discovered that if they give away that power to the Article II branch of government, they can also deny responsi- bility for its actions. So today in Washington, most policy is no longer set by Congress at all, but by the Administrative State. Given the choice between being powerful but vulnerable or irrelevant but famous, most Members of Congress have chosen the latter. Congress passes intentionally vague laws that delegate decision-making over a given issue to a federal agency. That agency’s bureaucrats—not just unelected but seemingly un-fireable—then leap at the chance to fill the vacuum created by Congress’s preening cowardice. The federal government is growing larger and less constitutionally accountable—even to the President—every year. l A combination of elected and unelected bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency quietly strangles domestic energy production through difficult-to-understand rulemaking processes; — 8 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security, following the lead of a feckless Administration, order border and immigration enforcement agencies to help migrants criminally enter our country with impunity; l Bureaucrats at the Department of Education inject racist, anti-American, ahistorical propaganda into America’s classrooms; l Bureaucrats at the Department of Justice force school districts to undermine girls’ sports and parents’ rights to satisfy transgender extremists; l Woke bureaucrats at the Pentagon force troops to attend “training” seminars about “white privilege”; and l Bureaucrats at the State Department infuse U.S. foreign aid programs with woke extremism about “intersectionality” and abortion.3 Unaccountable federal spending is the secret lifeblood of the Great Awokening. Nearly every power center held by the Left is funded or supported, one way or another, through the bureaucracy by Congress. Colleges and school districts are funded by tax dollars. The Administrative State holds 100 percent of its power at the sufferance of Congress, and its insulation from presidential discipline is an unconstitutional fairy tale spun by the Washington Establishment to protect its turf. Members of Congress shield themselves from constitutional accountability often when the White House allows them to get away with it. Cultural institutions like public libraries and public health agencies are only as “independent” from public accountability as elected officials and voters permit. Let’s be clear: The most egregious regulations promulgated by the current Administration come from one place: the Oval Office. The President cannot hide behind the agencies; as his many executive orders make clear, his is the respon- sibility for the regulations that threaten American communities, schools, and families. A conservative President must move swiftly to do away with these vast abuses of presidential power and remove the career and political bureaucrats who fuel it. Properly considered, restoring fiscal limits and constitutional accountability to the federal government is a continuation of restoring national sovereignty to the American people. In foreign affairs, global strategy, federal budgeting and pol- icymaking, the same pattern emerges again and again. Ruling elites slash and tear at restrictions and accountability placed on them. They centralize power up and away from the American people: to supra-national treaties and organizations, to left-wing “experts,” to sight-unseen all-or-nothing legislating, to the unelected career bureaucrats of the Administrative State.
Introduction
AI Analysis:
"The America the Beautiful Act and Project 2025 policy have weak alignment as they touch on the theme of government accountability, but the bill's focus is on national parks and public land funding, whereas Project 2025 emphasizes the need for constitutional accountability and reduction of the Administrative State's power. The connection between the two is tangential at best."
— 7 — Foreword Instead, party leaders negotiate one multitrillion-dollar spending bill—several thousand pages long—and then vote on it before anyone, literally, has had a chance to read it. Debate time is restricted. Amendments are prohibited. And all of this is backed up against a midnight deadline when the previous “omnibus” spending bill will run out and the federal government “shuts down.” This process is not designed to empower 330 million American citizens and their elected representatives, but rather to empower the party elites secretly nego- tiating without any public scrutiny or oversight. In the end, congressional leaders’ behavior and incentives here are no differ- ent from those of global elites insulating policy decisions—over the climate, trade, public health, you name it—from the sovereignty of national electorates. Public scrutiny and democratic accountability make life harder for policymakers—so they skirt it. It’s not dysfunction; it’s corruption. And despite its gaudy price tag, the federal budget is not even close to the worst example of this corruption. That distinction belongs to the “Administrative State,” the dismantling of which must a top priority for the next conservative President. The term Administrative State refers to the policymaking work done by the bureaucracies of all the federal government’s departments, agencies, and millions of employees. Under Article I of the Constitution, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” That is, federal law is enacted only by elected legislators in both houses of Congress. This exclusive authority was part of the Framers’ doctrine of “separated powers.” They not only split the federal government’s legislative, executive, and judicial powers into different branches. They also gave each branch checks over the others. Under our Constitution, the legislative branch—Congress—is far and away the most powerful and, correspondingly, the most accountable to the people. In recent decades, members of the House and Senate discovered that if they give away that power to the Article II branch of government, they can also deny responsi- bility for its actions. So today in Washington, most policy is no longer set by Congress at all, but by the Administrative State. Given the choice between being powerful but vulnerable or irrelevant but famous, most Members of Congress have chosen the latter. Congress passes intentionally vague laws that delegate decision-making over a given issue to a federal agency. That agency’s bureaucrats—not just unelected but seemingly un-fireable—then leap at the chance to fill the vacuum created by Congress’s preening cowardice. The federal government is growing larger and less constitutionally accountable—even to the President—every year. l A combination of elected and unelected bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency quietly strangles domestic energy production through difficult-to-understand rulemaking processes;
About These Correlations
Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.
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