Ryan Zinke's plan to use energy funds for national park repairs gets bipartisan support in Congress

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke partnered Wednesday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to create a fund to pay for the billions of dollars of repairs and maintenance needed in national parks and wildlife refuges. The Trump administration originally pitched the fund as part of its fiscal 2019 budget proposal. The fund, which would hold up to $18 billion, would be paid for by new leases for energy development on onshore and offshore federal lands. It also would finance schools under the Bureau of Indian Education. "Infrastructure is an investment, not merely an expense. And every dollar we put in to rebuilding our parks will help bolster the gateway communities that rely on park visitation for economic vitality,” Zinke said. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Angus King, I-Maine, sponsored legislation creating the fund on the Senate side. Additional co-sponsors include Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., announced a companion bill in the House. The Interior Department has a $16 billion maintenance backlog, the agency says. Of that amount, the National Park Service has the largest share, $11.6 billion in 2017 Interior’s proposal is already more popular than previous ideas the agency has offered to repair national parks. Last year, the National Park Service proposed to more than double visitor fees for 17 popular national parks to pay for the repairs and upkeep. But Democrats and national park groups opposed the proposal, arguing that Congress or the administration should pay for the maintenance, not visitors. The plan has not been implemented...more

We have bipartisan support for Zinke's plan to raise revenue and spend more money.
Do we have bipartisan support for Zinke's plan to cut the budget and trim the no. of employees? No, for that we have bipartisan opposition. A good example of our problems with  Washington - always willing to spend more, and never willing to spend less.

Also sorry to see Zinke buy in to the liberal jargon of federal spending being an "investment".
That would mean a cut in spending is a "disinvestment"? No wonder his budget cuts never pass.