A group of U.S. senators and a member of the House of Representatives is pledging to work together to reach a solution to address the National Park System's $11.6 billion maintenance backlog.
Missing from the group announced Monday, however, were U.S. Sens. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Rob Portman, and Ohio Republican, who a year ago cosponsored legislation to wipe out the backlog.
Monday's announcement cited Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, Steve Daines, R-Montana, Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
“We agree that we have a responsibility to address the growing maintenance backlog in our national parks – which includes roads, buildings, campgrounds, trails, water systems and more," the senators said in a joint release. "This is an issue Congress has been focused on for many years, and working with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, we will introduce bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the coming weeks to help restore and rebuild our national parks for the next generation of visitors.”