As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 4, 2026
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2026 | 2026-2031 | 2026-2036 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Spending (Outlays) | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | * | * | not estimated | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? | Yes | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | No | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | No | ||||||||||
* = between -$500,000 and $500,000. | |||||||||||
On This Page
S. 2787 would amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) to permanently standardize the terms of livestock grazing agreements across the National Forest System. Specifically, the bill would grant people and entities who hold leases or permits on national grasslands and forest service land in eastern states the right to continue a lease or permit under the same terms as an expiring agreement and a priority in renewing expiring agreements. Currently, under FLPMA, those terms are only extended to leases and permits in national forests in western states; however, in recent years, appropriation acts have directed the Forest Service to apply consistent grazing policies across the entire system.
CBO expects that lease and permit holders on national grasslands and in eastern states would be more likely to renew their agreements with the Forest Service if policies were permanently consistent across the National Forest System. Thus, CBO expects that the Forest Service would collect additional receipts from grazing fees, which are recorded in the federal budget as offsetting receipts; that is, as reductions in direct spending. Under current law, some of those receipts are spent without further appropriation, which results in an offsetting increase in direct spending of a similar magnitude as the receipt. Using information from the Forest Service, CBO estimates that enacting S. 2787 would decrease net direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period.
Based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that permanently adopting consistent policies would increase administrative costs by an insignificant amount over the 2026-2031 period; any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
On June 10, 2026, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 6300, the Grasslands Grazing Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on February 11, 2026. The two bills are similar, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emma Uebelhor. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office