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Senator criticizes proposed 37% cut to National Park Service budget as ‘‘devastating’’
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Summary
An unnamed senator at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing called a proposed 37% cut—about $1.2 billion—to the National Park Service budget ‘‘devastating,’’ citing growing visitation and shrinking staffing since 2010 and questioning the rationale for the reduction.
An unnamed senator on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee criticized a proposed reduction to the National Park Service budget, calling a roughly 37% cut ‘‘devastating’’ and ‘‘an insult to the Congress.’'
"I'm disappointed, Mister Secretary, with the budget, particularly for the National Park Service," the senator said, adding that committee members were provided the National Park Service budget justification for "02/2025" and a separate document labeled "02/1926." The senator said those materials showed a 37% proposed reduction and that the cut equates to about $1,200,000,000.
The senator said the committee's materials include data showing National Park Service visitation rising since 02/2010 while staffing declined, creating a growing disparity between visitor numbers and staff levels. "We were already woefully understaffed, and you're talking about cutting the budget by another third," the senator said.
The senator questioned the rationale for the reduction, saying the $1,200,000,000 cut would be a small fraction of the federal budget while inflicting major harm on the National Park Service. "If our federal budget was the height of this room, what you're cutting from the National Park Service is the combined height of two credit cards," the senator said, characterizing the savings to the federal budget as minimal compared with the damage to parks.
The remarks in the transcript were delivered during committee discussion; no formal motion or vote on the budget was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The senator addressed the remarks to a "Mister Secretary" identified in the transcript only by that title; the transcript did not provide the senator's name or other speakers in this excerpt.
The committee materials the senator cited were identified in the transcript as the National Park Service "budget justification for the 02/2025 budget" and a separate item labeled "02/1926." The transcript did not include further detail on next steps, scorekeeping, or formal committee action on the budget documents.
