On October 16, the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a joint oversight hearing entitled As Difficult As Possible: The National Park Service’s (NPS) Implementation of the Government Shutdown. The hearing examined the actions taken by the NPS following the government shutdown, which began on October 1 due to a lapse in fiscal year (FY) 2014 appropriations. The hearing, called by the Republican-controlled committee, called into question the necessity for turning away millions of visitors at National Parks, especially a group of WWII veterans who were refused access to the World War II Memorial on October 1. Director of the National Park Service, Jonathan Jarvis, defended actions taken by NPS and said they were complying with the Antideficiency Act, a law that forbids federal use of any funds that have not been authorized by Congress. For more information, you may read the hearing summary posted on the AGI website.

Sources: U.S. Government Accountability Office, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee