Republican Lawmakers Raise Questions over $200 Million Park Service Grant to Pelosi’s District
Chuck Sams, Director of the National Park Service (NPS), told Congress that the Interior Department under President Joe Biden ordered him to transfer 200 million dollars in federal funds to a park located in Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). This drew increased scrutiny from House Republicans.
Sams told Congress last week that Assistant Secretary Shannon Estenoz of the Interior Department Fish and Wildlife and Parks directed Sams that $200 million be transferred to the Presidio Trust. The Presidio Trust is a federal agency which operates the Presidio. It’s a 1,500 acre former military base used as a recreational area for the public in Pelosi district, near the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Washington Times reported that “[Sams] received a message saying they’d concluded Congress had intended to allocate the $200 million, even though the law did not say this.” “Mr. Last week, Mr.
Thomas Tiffany (R, WI) expressed his concern during a hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands. He said that NPS was becoming “Nancy’s Park Service.”
“NPS” to us means the National Park Service. Tiffany said to Interior Secretary Deb Hasland, “We’re concerned that Nancy’s Park Service has taken over.”
Pelosi’s district also received $63.6 for Alcatraz, and $102.3 for San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
The $365,9 million that Pelosi’s District received from NPS represents nearly one quarter of the $1.5 Billion Congress allocated for NPA in fiscal year 2023.
Bruce Westerman, R-AR, and Tiffany wrote to Estenoz asking for more information about the $200 million transfer.
The letter read:
You are probably aware that the National Park System has deferred maintenance projects and repairs totaling approximately $22.3 billion. The NPS received approximately $1.53billion in funding this fiscal year. This included $1.33billion through the Great American Outdoors Act and $200mil from the IRA. Nearly 24 percent of this funding was allocated to a Congressional district represented by Nancy Pelosi. This included the $200 million in the IRA for deferred repairs.
The Republican Congressmen stated that Sams’s testimony “raised many questions” about whether taxpayer funds transferred to the Presidio of San Francisco would be used appropriately for deferred repairs and maintenance.
