Park Service takes ‘extraordinary step’ of dipping into entrance fees to bolster operations at popular sites

Under a memorandum signed Saturday by the Interior Department’s acting secretary, David Bernhardt, and obtained by The Washington Post, park managers will be permitted to bring on additional staff to clean restrooms, haul trash, patrol the parks and open areas that have been shut during the budget impasse that has lasted more than two weeks. In a statement Sunday, National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith acknowledged that the administration’s practice of keeping parks open but understaffed has become unsustainable at some of its most beloved sites. The move, which some critics said could be illegal, shows the extent to which the Trump administration’s decision to keep the national park system open to visitors is straining its capacity and potentially exposing public lands to long-term damage. During such shutdowns under the Clinton and Obama administrations, the Park Service chose to block access to its sites rather than leave them open with a skeleton staff on board. Trump officials chose the opposite course, and as trash has begun to mount and key habitat has been imperiled, the administration is struggling to manage the problems...MORE

I told you it would be about trash and toilets, etc.

The Dems and the MSM are just livid over Trump keeping the parks open. It denies their ability to beat Trump over the head with all those stories of family vacations ruined and the economic damage to local communities because of lack of visitation. These issues gave them leverage in the last shutdown, but so far Trump has denied them that weapon in the current negotiations, and I just can't being tickled by Trump's move.