David Thomas: “One is the bill called Vision 20-20. It is the product of a great deal of effort that we put in in the Parks…”

“One is the bill called Vision 20-20. It is the product of a great deal of effort that we put in in the Parks Subcommittee with respect to revitalizing our national parks. We have had one hearing in the subcommittee. We have another planned for this week. Finally, we will have four hearings and then, hopefully, bring it to the floor sometime in May or early June. National parks, of course, are increasingly well thought of in this country. They are increasingly popular. Visitations go up. We have more and more people taking advantage of the parks, parks that preserve either natural resources or cultural resources that have been a tradition. We celebrated last year the 125th anniversary of the first park, Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, at the same time that we have increased our caring about parks, we find ourselves, according to the park agency, in addition to being $5 billion behind in the infrastructure, taking care of those parks and preserving those parks.”