States with big military, research facilities hurt most by shutdown - Stripes - Independent U.S. military news from Iraq, Afghanistan and bases worldwide
http://www.stripes.com/states-with-big-military-research-facilities-hurt-most-by-shutdown-1.248040
The bill to reopen the government, which passed early Thursday, did not include funds to pay back states that opened national parks such as Liberty Island in New York and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.Sen.
Lamar Alexander, D-Tenn., has introduced a bill that would compensate the states for the money they spent to reopen. But there is no exact amount of money included in the bill and passage is not guaranteed.Mike Saccone, press secretary for Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who is co-sponsoring the bill, said it would refund the states for the funds they used to open the national parks. In Colorado, he said, opening Rocky Mountain National Park was essential, not just for the economic benefit, but also because the roads in the park connect to U.S. 34 and U.S. 36, which were washed away in the recent severe flooding.Visitors spend about $76 million a day in communities near national parks, the National Park Service estimated.Among the states that ponied up funds to keep the parks open:Arizona announced it would pay $651,000 to keep the Grand Canyon open;New York paid $61,600 a day to reopen the Statue of Liberty;South Dakota paid $152,000 to fund Mount Rushmore for 10 days.Utah paid $1.7 million for eight sites that opened for 10 days starting Oct. 11.Colorado spent $362,700 to reopen Rocky Mountain National Park for 10 days.
The bill to open the government and lift the debt ceiling did include back pay for federally funded state workers who were kept on the job during the shutdown. Any states that used their own money to pay these workers will be reimbursed, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.The bill also had a few goodies tucked into it for states. Kentucky, home to Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who was instrumental in passing the bill, got $2.9 billion for dams and locks on the Lower Ohio River. Colorado also got $450 million for emergency repairs to highways damaged by flooding.
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