Federal land managers say it will take two decades and cost more than $1 billion over the first six years alone to slash wild horse populations to sustainable levels necessary to protect U.S. range land.

After House Speaker Rusty Bowers created a kerfuffle by pushing a bill that threatened to tank Arizona’s efforts to sign onto a multi-state drought plan and craft a similar intrastate plan, he asked at the last minute for the contentious proposal to be held.

House Republicans have stacked the legislative system in their favor even now when Democrats hold nearly half the seats in the chamber.

Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policies discourage the development of solar projects, an executive for Tempe-based First Solar told congressional lawmakers this week.