Among the last-minute modifications to House Republicans’ laws to lift the debt ceiling that they hope to move Wednesday is an modification clawing again $200 million for a park in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district.
The funding is on the middle of a GOP investigation after the National Park Service revealed Interior Department officers ordered the tranche be directed for park upkeep to the Presidio, a nationwide park bordering the water on the south finish of the Golden Gate Bridge that features a golf course, luxurious accommodations, retail shops and museums.
The modification stripping the funding, which was appropriated final yr beneath Democrats’ tax and local weather spending legislation generally known as the Inflation Reduction Act, was a part of a collection of last-minute modifications in House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt restrict proposal to win over GOP holdouts. The California Republican is struggling to cobble collectively sufficient votes in his slim four-seat majority to move the measure Wednesday afternoon that will keep away from the U.S. defaulting on its debt.
National Park Service Director Charles F. Sams testified to Congress final week that Interior Department officers ordered $200 million to Presidio Trust, a federal company to protect the park, regardless of the cash not being particularly allotted for the mission by Congress. The transfer marked a departure from company norms by designating such a big chunk of general park upkeep funding to a mission not sanctioned by Congress, Mr. Sams acknowledged.
Total deferred upkeep and repairs in nationwide parks throughout the nation tops $22 billion. Congress doled out roughly $1.5 billion for this fiscal yr that ends Sept. 30, that means the $200 million for the Presidio siphoned 13% of whole park upkeep funding.
Mrs. Pelosi’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about Republicans making an attempt to revoke the cash.
She made a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt in earlier years to applicable the $200 million to the Presidio.
“I want to assure you that we follow the law on every single thing that we do,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland testified final week to the House Natural Resources Committee. “I cannot speak to the specifics of the situation at this time.”
The panel’s chairman, GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, recommended the cash was pork-barrel spending for the longtime House Democratic chief.
“The perception is that this was a payoff to Speaker Pelosi,” Mr. Westerman mentioned.
House Republicans’ debt restrict proposal will not be anticipated to change into legislation however is quite a part of an effort to power Senate Democrats and President Biden to the negotiating desk to avert default within the coming months.
As a end result, Mrs. Pelosi’s Presidio funding will stay — at the least for now.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
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