Dear Friends,

It’s not every day that good news come out of Congress – especially now, in these difficult times. However, I’m writing to you today with very exciting news about a bill I’ve been fighting to get signed into law for more than three years.
 
Earlier this week, the President finally signed the Great American Outdoors Act – my bill to create jobs and restore our national parks.
 
As you may remember, years of chronic underfunding have forced the National Park Service (NPS) to put off maintenance on countless trails, campgrounds, buildings, and historic structures, as well as thousands of miles of roads and bridges. These costs have piled on over the years and now stand at $12 billion nationwide and $1.1 billion in Virginia alone.
 
The Great American Outdoors Act – now a law – will work to address that issue by making the most historic investment in our public lands in a generation.
 
This bill is an investment in our outdoor economy that will support an estimated 100,000 jobs, including 10,000 jobs in Virginia. And frankly, there’s no better time to see this signed into law than right now, as we face soaring unemployment numbers and fight to get our economy back on track. 
 
I’m very excited to see the impact of this law in NPS sites across Virginia. If you want to see where these dollars will go in your community, you can click here to see the maintenance backlog of parks in your area. 
 
If you want to share your thoughts about an issue that’s important to you, you can send me an email any time using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,