The legislative leaders and the Governor have not seen eye to eye recently, but on Friday night, Brewer, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin and Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs scrambled to get a letter out to President Barack Obama to request immediate funding of America’s National Parks.
Th trio requested funding to reopen the Grand Canyon, or at the very least, make it possible for state and private funding to reopen National Parks as has been done during previous shutdowns and budget shortfalls.
The governor and legislative leaders wrote the president requesting his “leadership to immediately fund America’s national parks or at the very least make a possible state and private funding to reopen national parks.”
They advised the president that a recent National Park Service study shows that the visitors to the Grand Canyon National Park generated more than $467 million and supported nearly 7,400 jobs in Arizona.
Due to the current unstable and struggling national economy, they argued that the state cannot afford to turn away Grand Canyon revenue.
“We understand that if it reaches your desk, you have promised to veto the Joint Resolution 70 which provides federal funding for America’s national parks,” they wrote. “We ask that you either reconsider this position or direct National Park Service to allow states like Arizona to reopen the national parks using state and private funding.”
The trio reminded the president that it “is legally possible as demonstrated in the past. In 1995, a combination of state and private dollars was used to reopen the Grand Canyon National Park. In March of this year, the National Park Service granted Cape Cod National Seashore the authority to accept private dollars to prevent closures related to the sequester.”
“Grand Canyon should not be held hostage in this budget battle, Mr. President. Our federal government shutdown is because of the failure in leadership in Washington, and the citizens of states like Arizona are left bearing the burden,” they concluded. “You have the opportunity to ease that burden by allowing major economic and historic attractions like Grand Canyon National Park to remain operational. We hope that you will reopen our national parks or allow us to do it ourselves.”
The administration has made it clear that they have no intention of stopping the shut down as they believe that they are winning, according to an administration source for the Wall Street Journal.