The House Natural Resources Committee was forced to cancel a planned field hearing on reauthorizing the Great American Outdoors Act in Hot Springs National Park due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who had planned to host the hearing in his home state this month, said prohibitions on spending during the shutdown made holding the hearing impossible. He also lamented that the shutdown has ground other committee work to a halt.
“We can’t spend money as a committee so we couldn’t do the field hearing, we’re not supposed to be having committee hearings,” Westerman said earlier this week. “The shutdown is really hampering our ability to do our legislative agenda.”
Westerman will join House leaders on Wednesday morning at a press conference to discuss the ongoing shutdown. Also in attendance will be Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who oversees spending at national parks as chair of an Appropriations subcommittee. The Trump administration has tried to keep most national parks open during the shutdown using skeletal staffing, though cracks are starting to show.
