One caveat for those numbers: They came out Thursday, which was one day before the Department of the Interior decided to reopen a dozen parks for between six and 10 days with funding from the states where they are located. That means the amount of lost revenue is likely to decline, at least while those parks remain open.
The five states that reached agreements with Interior are likely to seek reimbursement once the shutdown ends, but Congress would have to authorize the payments, according to a Post article.
Maureen Finnerty, chair of the retiree coalition, said in a statement Thursday that national parks could not open without staffing. “By essentially enabling looting, poaching, and vandalism, Congress would be taking what is already a dark episode in the history of our national parks and making it worse,” she said.
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