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Park Ranger: National Park Service Wants Public to ‘Feel the Pain’ of Cuts
Newsmax
Sandy Fitzgerald
3/10/2013
Excerpt:
Officials in the National Park Service are telling staff to cancel special events and other services that will make the sequester cuts more apparent to the millions of Americans who visit any of the 84 million acres managed by federal tax money, according to a park ranger.
“Apparently, they want the public to feel the pain,” explained the park ranger to Fox News on the condition that he not be identified.
The National Park Service has warned that the sequester cuts, which recently took effect, would delay access to parts of Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks, close campgrounds at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and much more.
The NPS is facing an across-the-board cut of 5 percent, part of the $85 billion in cuts coming from Congress' inability to avert the sequester.
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of attempting to exaggerate the impact of the cuts.
The ranger was familiar with NPS operations in only one region of the country and could not say if the same guidance was being disseminated throughout the entire government agency.
An NPS spokesman told Fox that he’s “never heard of guidance given like that."
The spokesman said the Park Service is absorbing the cuts over the next seven months, and the agency will be forced to cut back on seasonal employees, which could impact some interpretive programs and public events. However, he denied efforts were being made to make the cuts more visible.
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View the complete article at:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newswidget/Na...3/10/id/493979
Newsmax
Sandy Fitzgerald
3/10/2013
Excerpt:
Officials in the National Park Service are telling staff to cancel special events and other services that will make the sequester cuts more apparent to the millions of Americans who visit any of the 84 million acres managed by federal tax money, according to a park ranger.
“Apparently, they want the public to feel the pain,” explained the park ranger to Fox News on the condition that he not be identified.
The National Park Service has warned that the sequester cuts, which recently took effect, would delay access to parts of Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks, close campgrounds at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and much more.
The NPS is facing an across-the-board cut of 5 percent, part of the $85 billion in cuts coming from Congress' inability to avert the sequester.
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of attempting to exaggerate the impact of the cuts.
The ranger was familiar with NPS operations in only one region of the country and could not say if the same guidance was being disseminated throughout the entire government agency.
An NPS spokesman told Fox that he’s “never heard of guidance given like that."
The spokesman said the Park Service is absorbing the cuts over the next seven months, and the agency will be forced to cut back on seasonal employees, which could impact some interpretive programs and public events. However, he denied efforts were being made to make the cuts more visible.
.....................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newswidget/Na...3/10/id/493979