WASHINGTON, June 24 -- Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, issued the following news release: The U.S. Senate last week passed the Great American Outdoors Act -- the most important conservation legislation in half a century -- by an overwhelming 73-25 bipartisan vote. The legislation includes Alexander's bill to restore the country's 419 national parks and cut in half the national parks' $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog. The bill also fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWC  more