Shutdown Drama Puts National Park Service in Crossfire
ABC NEWS
Visitors to the nation’s capital this week may have been disappointed to learn many of the city’s most famous monuments are temporarily closed to the public – a consequence, lawmakers have said, of the federal government shutdown.
But, spurred by a high-profile visit to the World War II memorial by veterans, some conservative members of Congress are questioning the National Park Service’s decision to close the sites to the general public, as officials associated with the park service defend it.
Today, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee announced that he has requested additional information from the park service outlining its position.
“The committee is concerned with NPS’s allocation of resources during this time of lapsed funding,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis. “Numerous media outlets have reported that NPS has erected barricades to keep people from entering the National World War II Memorial and other monuments.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, busloads of elderly veterans with the “Honor Flights” non-profit group arrived at the World War II memorial to find it closed with bike-rack style barricades. However, a handful of park police at the site did not interfere when the vets and volunteers entered anyway, as a circus of media and lawmakers watched. Later, the Park Service declared that the Honor Flights, or any veteran, could enter the memorial freely under First Amendment protection.
Issa is the second committee chairman to formally inquire with park officials.
Link:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/shutdown-drama-puts-national-park-service-in-crossfire/
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