Source: National Parks Traveler
By Kurt Repanshek
November 29, 2018
Time is running out if Congress wants to prevent a government shutdown on December 7, when the current funding stream lapses for much of the government. House and Senate appropriators have proposed modest increases for the National Park Service, but that matters little if the measures stall.
Currently, the House is proposing a $3.25 billion Fiscal 2019 budget for the Park Service, a 1.7 percent increase above the agency’s current $3.2 billion funding level. The Senate, meanwhile, has proposed a $3.21 billion budget, a slight 0.4 percent increase.
Both chambers are proposing cuts in the Park Service’s Historic Preservation account, which was funded at $96.9 million for Fiscal 2018; the House number is down $5 million, while the Senate’s number is down $8 million. The Park Service’s allocation of Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars also would take a hit under the current proposals; an $8.6 million reduction from the current $180.9 million level in the House version, a $6.5 million cut in the Senate’s.
