National parks are an immense recreational resource that countless people enjoy each year. These six states did the American people a favor by keeping them open during the federal shutdown, the least Congress can do is repay them.
States weren’t obligated to operate the national parks within their borders during the federal government shutdown. They chose to use their own funding to keep them open — they should own that cost.
This bill would reimburse states that used their own funding to keep national parks open and available to the public during the government shutdown of October 2013.
The National Park Service (NPS) would be required to make these refunds to the six states which operated national parks during the shutdown out of appropriations made by Congress after this legislation’s enactment.
This bill was approved unanimously
by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before Congress
adjourned for its August 2015 recess. A version of this bill was passed out of the committee in November 2014, but failed to receive a vote in the Senate before the 113th Congress concluded.
Media:
Summary by Eric Revell
Federal Agencies
National Parks
States
Travel
Environment