"WASHINGTON –- The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a Republican-backed bill that would make it more difficult for the president to declare new national monuments.

The bill, "Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of Natural Monuments Act," was authored by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). It would put in place new specifications on what a president must do in order to use powers granted under the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows the president to designate "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States" as monuments.

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, the "father of conservation," signed the Antiquities Act into law. Since then, 16 presidents from both parties have used the law to designate new protections for national landmarks."

Kate Sheppard reports for the Huffington Post March 24, 2014. [2]