An independent government watchdog says the Interior Department violated spending laws by using money meant for maintenance and improvements in national parks to pay for day-to-day operations during the government shutdown.
During the shutdown in December and January, the Interior Department decided to tap into a fund of money collected from fees in National Parks to pay to keep the parks open and help collect trash and protect them from damage. Democrats in Congress opposed the decision saying the administration was using money meant to help the maintenance backlog in national parks.
The finding also said any future use of FLREA funds using the same argument will be considered a"knowing and willful" violation of the law and could result in penalties for officials involved. "The Administration should now immediately report this violation and take corrective actions as required by law. This should put the administration on notice that their illegal actions will not be tolerated. As stated in the GAO opinion: 'With this decision, we will consider such violations in the future to be knowing and willful violations….' and I agree," McCollum said.
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