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Committee approves special funding for local park programs

Committee approves special funding for local park programs

By Charles Pekwow

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Examiner

Despite the threats of forthcoming draconian federal budget cuts, parks in the capital region may get some boosts next year.
 
The House Appropriations Committee – dominated by Republicans – approved an FY 12 appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies that allows some special funding for the area. The bill is vague on specifically how much money or how to use the funds.
 
For one thing, the bill allows some special activities to celebrate the Civil War Sesquicentennial at battlefields and monuments. The bill doesn't give many specifics, leaving it up to the National Park Service (NPS). The committee report notes that the “150th anniversary presents a significant opportunity for Americans to recall and reflect upon the Civil War and its legacy in a spirit of reconciliation and reflection, through exploration, interpretation, and discussion.”
 
So the committee told NPS to “encourage discussion of the historic, social, legal, racial, cultural and political forces that caused the American Civil War and influenced its course and outcomes at events organized and supported by the Park Service.” And so the bill gives an unspecified amount of funds that the park service can use for such programs at sites in the area commemorating the War between the States.
 
Additionally, the bill would maintain the current budget to continue the free outdoor concert series on the U.S. Capitol grounds next year, where military bands routinely play during the summer. The bill also would appropriate $60 million for the effort to revitalize the National Mall. A campaign is going on chaired by former first lady Laura Bush to raise $350 million privately to match the federal money. The funds can go to various projects, such as the ongoing reconstruction of the Jefferson Memorial and restructuring of the grounds around the Lincoln Memorial and reflecting pool.
 
Finally, the bill would allow the use of federal grants, competitively awarded, for interpretive programs at the Educational Center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the mall. The center is being built with non-federal funds. The bill doesn't give any specific money, though. For details on the appropriations, see http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery.

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