US Shutdown:landmark Tourist Sites Re-opened. - Foreign Affairs - Nairaland
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US Shutdown:landmark Tourist Sites Re-opened. by HezronLorraine(m): 7:33pm On Oct 12, 2013 |
The Statue of Liberty and Grand Canyon will reopen
Mount Rushmore will be re-opened thanks to state funding The Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon are to reopen after their respective states offered to fund their running.
The Statue of Liberty will be funded with $369,300 from the state of New York for six days, beginning on Saturday, while the Grand Canyon will be kept running for seven days by Arizona at a cost of $651,000.
More than 400 federally managed tourist sites across the nation have been closed since the shutdown started at the start of October due to a budget impasse between Republicans and Democrats.
The federal National Park Service has, so far, announced deals with the states of New York, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and South Dakota, under which the states agree to fund sites which draw millions of tourists every year.
Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain National Park and eight federal sites in Utah reopened on Friday for 10 days at a cost of $1.66m to the western US state. However, destinations including Yosemite National Park and Alcatraz prison remain closed. Arizona governor Jan Brewer hailed the deal to reopen the Grand Canyon ahead of a three-day public holiday weekend. She added it was important "not only for our national and global travellers who have long awaited to experience one of the world's seven natural wonders, but for the nearby businesses and communities whose livelihood depends" on tourism.
More than $150m a day is being lost in lost travel- related activity, affecting up to 450,000 American workers, according to the US Travel Association. Some 20,000 park services employees are on temporary unpaid leave. South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard said he was pleased Mount Rushmore - "our nation's shrine to democracy" - will be reopened.
There is no guarantee that the states will be reimbursed by federal authorities when the shutdown ends. The funding is considered a donation, not a loan, and it would require an act of Congress to authorise any type of reimbursement, according to an official source.
The US Travel Association sent a letter to the White House and Congress on Friday, urging them to work harder to resolve the budget standoff. "The government shutdown is throttling America's travel sector, which, until now, has been one of the principal drivers of US economic recovery," said its president, Roger Dow.
Meanwhile, The White House and Republicans are painstakingly edging towards a deal to stave off a disastrous US debt default and end the partial government shutdown now sure to hit the two-week mark.
President Barack Obama met face-to-face with Republican senators and spoke by phone with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, as subordinates haggled over the terms of an eventual truce to a bitter standoff.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We are obviously in a better place than we were a few days ago in terms of the constructive approach we have seen. But there is not an agreement." http://news.sky.com/story/1153550/us-shutdown-states-to-reopen-landmarks
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Re: US Shutdown:landmark Tourist Sites Re-opened. by texanomaly(f): 8:01pm On Oct 12, 2013 |
I know you are being serious. This is a serious issue.
So with that said...How does one close the Grand Canyon? It is not on a toll road. Parts of it are on Indian reservations. (Technically not even a part of the United States. The US has no jurisdiction there) Interesting. |
Re: US Shutdown:landmark Tourist Sites Re-opened. by HezronLorraine(m): 8:17pm On Oct 12, 2013 |
texanomaly: I know you are being serious. This is a serious issue.
So with that said...How does one close the Grand Canyon? It is not on a toll road. Parts of it are on Indian reservations. (Technically not even a part of the United States. The US has no jurisdiction there) Interesting. I thought the same,but had to lift from the source unedited. |
Re: US Shutdown:landmark Tourist Sites Re-opened. by texanomaly(f): 11:21pm On Oct 12, 2013 |
Hezron Lorraine: I thought the same,but had to lift from the source unedited. Got it. |
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