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TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 23, 2018 3A
Looking at government
shutdown’s varied
impact on parks, tourists
Shutdown expected to
drag into Christmas
Trump, congressional leaders stuck in standoff over border wall
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
Vice President Mike Pence, center left, walking with acting-White House Chief of Staff
Mick Mulvaney, center right, arrives Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Capitol as Congress
resumes talks on funding without a compromise over money for President Donald Trump’s
promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, in Washington.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The
partial federal shutdown
was expected to drag into
Christmas as President Don
ald Trump and congressio
nal leaders remained stuck
in a standoff over his border
wall with Mexico with no
breakthrough Saturday.
Vice President Mike
Pence arrived on Capitol
Hill with a counter-offer to
Democrats after the two
sides traded offers in recent
days. At the White House,
Trump heard mixed mes
sages during a lunch with
conservative lawmakers;
some wanted him to fight for
the wall, others preferred
to get the government re
opened. The Senate, which
gaveled in with the House
for a rare weekend session,
adjourned until Christmas
Eve, but won’t return for a
full session until Dec. 27.
Even a temporary mea
sure to keep government
running for a few days while
negotiations continued
seemed out of reach.
“Listen, anything can
happen,” Senate Major
ity Leader Mitch McCon
nell told reporters after he
closed the session.
But the situation seemed
less hopeful for a resolution.
The Republican chairman
of the Appropriations Com
mittee, Sen. Richard Shelby
of Alabama, said a quick end
to the shutdown was “not
probable.”
“I don’t think it’s immi
nent we’re going to reach
a deal,” Shelby told report
ers after he ushered Pence
through the halls for meet
ings. “I wish we could.”
Trump was demanding
$5 billion for a wall, but con
gressional Democrats were
refusing to accede in a stale
mate that provided a cha
otic coda for Republicans
in the waning days of their
two-year reign controlling
government.
The president jettisoned
his Florida holiday getaway
to his club Mar-a-Lago,
tweeting, “I am in the White
House, working hard.”
Trump hosted a lunch
with conservative lawmak
ers, including House Free
dom Caucus chiefs Mark
Meadows of North Carolina
and Jim Jordan of Ohio, and
several senators, among
them Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina. Absent from
the guest list were GOP lead
ers or any Democrats.
For the second day in a
row, Pence shuttled over
to the Capitol to work on a
deal. Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer of
New York met with Pence
at the request of the White
House, according to Schum
er’s office.
Shelby said the two sides
had exchanged counter
offers over the past days and
that Pence was arriving with
a new one from the White
House. Pence left a short
time later.
Schumer said the “Trump
shutdown” could end if
Trump simply dropped his
demand for money that was
the centerpiece of his presi
dential campaign. Trump
had pledged Mexico would
pay for the wall; Mexico has
refused.
“If you want to open the
government, you must aban
don the wall, ” Schumer said.
Democrats said they were
open to other proposals that
don’t include the wall, which
Schumer said was too costly
and unpopular. They have
offered to keep spending at
existing levels of $1.3 billion
for border fencing and other
security.
But Trump, digging in,
tweeted about “the crisis of
illegal activity” at Ameri
can’s southern border is
“real and will not stop until
we build a great Steel Bar
rier or Wall.”
Republican leaders
largely stayed in the back
ground of the negotiations,
and McConnell opened the
Senate saying any deal to
reopen government would
require Democratic support
for passage and the presi
dent’s signature.
The impasse blocked
money for nine of 15 Cabi
net-level departments and
dozens of agencies, includ
ing the departments of
Homeland Security, Trans
portation, Interior, Agricul
ture, State and Justice.
The disruption affected
many government opera
tions and the routines of
800,000 federal employees.
Roughly 420,000 workers
were deemed essential and
will work unpaid just days
before Christmas. An addi
tional 380,000 will be fur
loughed, meaning they will
stay home without pay.
NEW YORK — The
huddled masses are still
able to visit the Statue of
Liberty. The Grand Can
yon is open for business.
The government says other
national parks “will remain
as accessible as possible,”
although some roads at
Rocky Mountain National
Park are closed as snow
goes unplowed.
But, while the star-span
gled banner yet waves at
Fort McHenry in Baltimore,
the gates at the War of 1812
landmark are locked.
Tourists trekking to parks
and historic sites across the
U.S. on Saturday are seeing
a mix of impacts from the
federal government’s sec
ond shutdown in less than
a year.
Some attractions are
staying open thanks to fund
ing from states and chari
table groups.
At some parks, you’re
welcome to take a hike —
but you’re largely on your
own. At others, like the
closed Gettysburg National
Military Park in Pennsylva
nia, you’re out of luck.
Utah’s state government
is paying to staff the visitor
centers at Arches, Bryce
Canyon and Zion national
parks. Arizona is ponying
up to keep trails, shuttles
and restrooms open at the
Grand Canyon. New York
is footing the bill for the
Statue of Liberty and Ellis
Island for the third shut
down in five years.
“Many travelers have
planned their visit for
months in advance and
have traveled from all over
the world to be here,” said
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert,
a Republican. “We want
them to return home with
memories of magnificent
vistas and welcoming peo
ple, not locked doors.”
The shutdown is affect
ing nine of the 15 Cabi
net-level departments,
including Interior, which
runs national parks, and
Agriculture, which runs
national forests. About
16,000 National Park
Service employees — 80
percent of the agency’s
workforce — are being
furloughed.
It’s also closing some of
the nation’s presidential
libraries.
The George H.W. Bush
Presidential Library and
Museum in College Sta
tion, Texas, is closed, but
the family gravesite —
where the 41st president
was recently buried — will
stay open. George W. Bush’s
presidential library in Dal
las is open, but archive ser
vices won’t be available.
Temporary and perma
nent exhibits at the Clin
ton Presidential Library
and Museum, a top tourist
attraction in Little Rock,
Arkansas, are closed, but
the restaurant is open
and offering “Shutdown
Specials.”
At Acadia National Park
in Maine, austerity mea
sures include closing some
bathrooms, curbing trash
collection and cutting back
on snowplowing.
A lack of plowing is
closing roads at Rocky
Mountain National Park in
Colorado, the fourth most
popular national park in
the country, and the visitor
centers are locked. “This is
really disappointing,” said
Sarah Schlesinger of Boul
der, Colorado, who went to
the park with two nieces
from Florida who had
never seen snow before.
Unplowed roads also
could hinder access to Cra
ter Lake in Oregon, Mount
Rainier in Washington and
other parks normally inun
dated with snow this time of
year.
Hotels, restaurants,
stores and gas stations at
Yosemite National Park
in California remain open
and seem unaffected by
the shutdown, which has
canceled some programs,
closed visitor centers
and left campgrounds
unstaffed.
Associated Press
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