[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 5, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     YOSEMITE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE

  (Mr. McClintock of California was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, a well-known bureaucratic response to 
any attempt to reduce government spending is called the Washington 
Monument strategy. If anybody suggests cutting the budget, then just 
shut down the Washington Monument until enough tourists complain to 
their Congressman.
  We saw this strategy implemented with a vengeance during the 
government shutdown under Obama. All reservations at the national parks 
were canceled. Vendors were ordered to close, perishable deliveries 
were turned back, The National Mall was cordoned off, gates to the 
national parks were chained, and even highway turnouts with a view of 
Yosemite Valley were barricaded.
  Now, compare that to the government shutdown in the first Trump 
administration. Vendors remained in business, the public lands remained 
fully open to the public, no monuments were obstructed, no barricades 
were erected, and the gates to the national parks remained fully 
accessible.
  Today, opponents of President Trump's war on government waste have 
revived the Washington Monument strategy to maintain a bloated Federal 
workforce that is crushing American taxpayers. Every dollar of 
discretionary spending, which fully or partially funds every department 
within the Federal Government, is now borrowed. Instead of long-overdue 
streamlining, the Democrats are pushing for a tax increase that will 
amount to about $1,500 on a family earning just $75,000.
  At Yosemite National Park, in my district, disgruntled employees hung 
a giant American flag upside-down on El Capitan the other day, ruining 
the view for tourists who came to enjoy Yosemite's famous firefall. 
Remote cameras at the park are now blocked by protest signs. A Yosemite 
biologist told gullible reporters that the staff cuts would doom the 
Sierra Nevada red fox to extinction. Others warned that layoffs would 
result in visitors stuck in restrooms and fires raging out of control.
  This is human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass 
hysteria, as a ``Ghostbusters'' character once put it.
  What is the actual number of layoffs at Yosemite National Park that 
will bring the beautiful valley to rack and ruin?
  Mr. Speaker, 10, the number is 10 probationary employees, 10 out of 
nearly 500 full-time winter employees, 25 if you include early 
retirements and no firefighters.
  This begs some important questions: Is the park so poorly managed 
that only one employee has keys to the restrooms serving the 748,000-
acre national park?
  Apparently.

                              {time}  1015

  How will the Sierra Nevada red fox survive with only eight remaining 
biologists at Yosemite looking out for it rather than nine? I guess we 
will just have to find out.
  How many of Yosemite's employees are working from home? We don't know 
because the park management won't tell us. We do know that 34 percent 
of National Park Service employees across the country were still 
working from home in 2023. Need to find the nearest unlocked restroom? 
Just email them.
  Indeed, the employees who provide most of the visitor amenities, such 
as the hotels, shops, and restaurants, don't even work for the Park 
Service. They work for the park's private concessionaire.
  It is true that hiring seasonal employees was delayed for a few weeks 
when the administration put a temporary hold on new hires, but that 
hold was soon lifted. These positions will actually increase by about 
50.
  More than a decade ago, when I first met with park management, I 
noticed a placard in the conference room. It read: Is it good for the 
park?
  I suggested that was the wrong question. The right question is: Is it 
good for the park's visitors?
  It is a matter of attitude.
  The Yosemite Grant Act of 1864 was the first time that land was set 
aside for the use, resort, and recreation of the American people. It 
says nothing about the park's employees. They work for the people, who, 
in turn, have selected Donald Trump to exercise the executive powers of 
the government and charged him to take care that the laws be faithfully 
executed. He can't do that if he can't open the books, look at where 
the money is spent, and determine whether it is being spent efficiently 
and in accordance with the law or stop it when it isn't.
  The antics of some of Yosemite's employees dishonor the silent 
majority at the park, who are genuinely devoted to public service.
  As Hamilton said: ``Here, sir, the people govern.''
  All 2.4 million employees in the Federal workforce exercise powers 
delegated by the President through our Constitution by virtue of his 
election. Any Federal employee who doesn't respect the authority of the 
people and the President they elected has no business working for them.

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