Jared Huffman: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I rise today in support of this bill to reopen our national parks and end the…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I rise today in support of this bill to reopen our national parks and end the Trump shutdown. Over the last 3 weeks, the conditions in our national parks have reached unacceptable and unsafe levels as park employees are furloughed without pay and forced to keep quiet about the ongoing damage. Here is what some of it looks like: dirty diapers, coffee cups, and burrito wrappers. That is just the start of what Congresswoman Jackie Speier and I saw this past weekend as we joined volunteers for a trash cleanup at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which we both represent. It took only a few minutes for us to fill two 32-gallon trash cans with waste. We may soon have enough trash building up in our national parks to build a wall. Is that the idea, Mr. Trump? Is that the backup plan, to have our parks, park visitors, and our professional park staff pay for the wall you said Mexico would pay for? Mr. Speaker, the damage from the Trump shutdown does not end there. I have more than 25 federally recognized Tribes in my district. Each of those communities faces serious financial insecurity as a result of this shutdown. I refuse to stand by as Indian Country suffers, as our national parks suffer, and as millions of Americans suffer, so that Donald Trump can pretend he is building a medieval border wall. We need the House and Senate to pass the Interior appropriations bill.…”