NPS discretionary appropriations requested for FY2025/Congressional Research Service

While the House of Representatives couldn't alter the flow of funding to the Greater American Outdoors Act that helps federal land managers tackle backlogged maintenance projects, the chamber did make significant cuts into the National Park Service's two main accounts that fund ongoing construction, repairs, and maintenance.

According to the Congressional Research Service, "[T]wo discretionary appropriations subactivities (“Line-Item Construction and Maintenance” in the Construction account and “Repair and Rehabilitation” in the [park operations] account) have been primary sources of discretionary funding for NPS DM. For FY2024, P.L. 118-42 provided $191.6 million for these two subactivities, a 27 percent drop from FY2023. For FY2025, H.R. 8998 would provide $57.8 million for Line-Item Construction and Maintenance—28 percent less than FY2024— and did not specify amounts for Repair and Rehabilitation."

It has been the inability of the Park Service to stay on top of routine maintenance that contributes to the maintenance backlog.

The CRS said that the Biden administration has asked for $3.576 billion in discretionary appropriations for the National Park Service for fiscal 2025, which starts October 1. The request is 8 percent higher than NPS’s FY2024 discretionary appropriation of $3.325 billion, the service said.

"On July 11, 2024, the House Committee on Appropriations reported H.R. 8998 (H.Rept. 118-581), with $3.115 billion for NPS for FY2025. This amount is 13 percent less than the administration’s request and 6 percent less than the FY2024 appropriation," said CRS.