NATIONAL PARKS: Senate GOP amendment would reimburse states for shutdown costs
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Five Republican senators have filed an amendment to the chamber's defense authorization bill seeking to reimburse states that paid for the operation of national parks during the government shutdown.
The amendment filed yesterday by Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee of Utah, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee would require the National Park Service to pay their states and others that ponied up to reopen popular national parks including the Grand Canyon, Zion and Great Smoky Mountains during the 16-day shutdown.
States including Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New York and Tennessee pitched in a total of roughly $2 million to pay for park employees to return to work, but the individual agreements they signed with the Interior Department left it up to Congress to reimburse them.
Congress never acted.
Alexander in October introduced a stand-alone bill to reimburse states, saying at the time that such a proposal "is a good step in the right direction."
But it's unclear whether the measure will be given a vote as focus in the Senate centers on more germane amendments to the defense reauthorization involving Guantanamo Bay and sexual assault in the military.
Scores of amendments have already been filed to the $625 billion defense spending bill with dozens more expected. Senate consideration could stretch beyond Thanksgiving.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday suggested consideration of the national parks amendment was unlikely.
"I hope we will be able to have a robust amendment process," Reid said on the Senate floor. "However, I will not allow this important legislation to be sidetracked by debates and amendments unrelated to our nation's defense."
A similar proposal to reimburse states for park expenses is being considered tomorrow in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation (E&E Daily, Nov. 18). H.R. 3286, by Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), includes several Democratic co-sponsors.
Alexander's bill also carries bipartisan support.
