The House passed HR 6800, the HEROES Act, on May 15th. It expresses the Democratic priorities on the next round of pandemic relief funding. The bill is focused on immediate relief – not economic stimulus. Senate Republicans called the bill dead on arrival, but they have yet to introduce their own legislation.

The House is set to be in session today and Thursday, for the first time under new rules allowing for proxy voting. The Senate is not set to return until June.

Some Senate Republicans are pressing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to begin moving on another coronavirus relief package in the coming weeks, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, among those pushing for the inclusion of infrastructure spending, something McConnell has resisted.

Congress is mulling an agreement on legislation that would double the amount of time businesses have to spend loans obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program to 16 weeks and extend the June 30 deadline for program applications to Dec. 31. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin voiced support for extending PPP's deadlines, but legislation would need to be approved by both the Senate and the House, which is expected to take up legislation to alter the program's time frame this week.

Oil and gas companies have proposed more than 150,000 acres of federal land for potential development in the canyons of eastern Utah, some as close as a mile and a half from Arches National Park. The parcels could be auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management in its September oil and gas lease sale in Utah, conveying drilling rights to the highest bidders for a period of 10 years. Acres nominated for leasing are also close to Canyonlands National Park, Green River and Bears Ears National Monument and encompass areas with wilderness designations and attributes.

BLM extended the comment period on the Chaco area drilling plan in response to public outcry can be effective in changing administration policy.

Sen. McConnell said he's scheduling a vote on the Great American Outdoors Act, which will permanently fund the LWCF and address the NPS maintenance backlog, after Memorial Day.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) is introducing a bill, H.R. 6889, the "Northern Nevada Economic Development, Conservation and Military Modernization Act of 2020," which would triple the acreage of its training complex, Naval Air Station Fallon, near Reno, Nev. The 148-page measure would address plans to significantly expand Naval Air Station Fallon and the Fallon Range Training Complex, as well as address land conveyances in a half-dozen northern counties and create wilderness designations. Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribal Chairman Len George likewise raised concerns about the "monumental impacts" enlarging the naval training center would have, particularly on cultural sites and burials. "Despite the fact that the bill disposes of thousands of acres of our ancestral homelands, we were not consulted in the development of this bill. We and the National Congress of American Indians stand united in opposition to any expansion of NAS Fallon," George told E&E News in a statement.

The ACHP has convened a task force on the historic trades. Nicholas Redding of Preservation Maryland will participate, along with representatives from NEA and several colleges and universities. They plan to publish a report this fall.