Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Senate negotiators are officially looking to include Good Samaritan mining legislation in the year-end defense authorization bill, according to a list of amendments released Thursday.
Why it matters: Conservation groups have been trying to get a Good Sam bill passed for years. It's now getting close to becoming law.
Driving the news: The legislation is included in a manager's package of 93 amendments to the Senate NDAA.
- It would set up a pilot program to let outside groups or state agencies clean up abandoned hardrock mines.
- Supporters have been making the case that the bill has a military connection because DoD land contains many abandoned mines.
- The legislation has robust bipartisan support despite opposition from some environmental groups, who argue it could let mining companies off the hook for legal liabilities.
What's inside: In addition to Good Sam, the amendment package includes Sen. Joe Manchin's International Nuclear Energy Act.
- And it has Senate EPW's bill to reauthorize the Economic Development Administration for the first time in two decades.
What's next: Senators do not plan to take up their version of the NDAA on the floor.
- Instead, they will bring their bill — and this amendment package — into negotiations with the House on a final defense authorization bill, which will likely be taken up after the election.
- Inclusion in the manager's package does not guarantee these bills will be in the final NDAA (see: the ADVANCE Act's failure last year).
- But it does indicate bipartisan support from committee leadership that inches them much closer to passage at the end of the year.
