A proposed budget to keep the federal government running through the rest of the fiscal year, which wraps up at the end of September, would bring millions of dollars to the National Park Service if approved by Congress.
The draft $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill released by congressional leaders Wednesday night includes increased funding for national park repairs and wildfire management. It calls for a 9.2 percent increase in the National Park Service Fiscal 2017 budget of $3.2 billion, an increase of roughly $270 million, and includes a $160 million increase to address park system's $11.6 billion repair backlog, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
The omnibus would also create a new funding mechanism for fighting wildfires so the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior will no longer have to repeatedly borrow money from other, non-fire priorities.
At the same time, National Parks Conservation Association staff say that while the bill is largely free of items that would jeopardize national parks’ water, wildlife and landscapes, they've noted a few riders would undermine forest protections.
"The funding bill will provide a major boost for important road, bridge, and trail repair projects and for fixing historic sites-- just as the National Park Service is preparing for another busy summer travel season," said Kristen Brengel, NPCA's vice president for government affairs. "Yellowstone, Gettysburg, San Antonio Missions, Everglades and our entire National Park System need robust funding to provide inspiring experiences for visitors, make overdue repairs, and maintain long-term protections for these important places. This is a necessary investment with broad returns, and we hope this trend continues in next year's bill."
Comments
Never claimed "the extra millions" to the NPS would take us belly up. It is the aggregation of "extra millions" that add up to $100s of billions that will. And yes, I would include the wall in that, although some studies have shown it would pay for itself through reduced costs generated by illegal immigrants.
https://cis.org/Can-Border-Wall-Pay-Itself
But then, no jobs, no healthcare, no welfare, no schooling could do the same thing at a much lower cost than a wall.
A columnist in The Seattle Times this morning is complaining that President Trump is a hypocritical bag of wind. Why? Because he said he would veto the bill and instead signed it. It just goes to show he can never win. Veto the bill: You're a Republican! Sign the bill: You're a Democrat! But you can't be one of us so you're a hypocrite. No wonder the ship of state has become a ship of fools.
Stop and think. President Trump had to sign the bill as an American, because the ship of state is heading for the shoals. We can't go on like this any longer, but yes, he needs more time--more time to convince us, as another columnist wrote this morning, that the Rule of Holes now finally applies. When you're in a hole, you don't keep digging.
Everyone I talk to loves this bill--except people who can recognize holes. Which holes do we fill in first? Good question, and again, no one wanted it answered this week. So Trump signed the bill and walked away from the hole. And now we are unhappy? He shoulda done more; he shoulda done less. He shoulda, he shoulda, he shoulda?
I'll buy that, if you'll buy this. Whatever we do now is wrong. Someone will be "unhappy." It's the nature of having lived in a hole so long all we know to do about it is keep digging.
Al, he hasn 't let shoals, ethics, threat of nuclear war, good conscience, or anything yet stop him from doing whatever his most recent impulse is, sadly.