A smug, biting, and sarcastic roster of Republicans bashed National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis during a hearing Wednesday into how the Park Service handled the closure of the park system in the wake of the federal government's partial shutdown.
The joint hearing by the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees offered harsh criticism, and even condemnation, from many of the GOP committee members, alternating with praise and support from Democratic members.
Director Jarvis was forced to sit and listen to his critics, as the committees subpoeaned him to appear after he initially demurred from their request that he testify.
At one point Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, pointedly called the director "a liability to the National Park Service."
That attack was quickly rebutted by Rep. Gerald Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, who defended Director Jarvis and praised his service to the Park Service.
The hearing offered stark contrasts over whose fault the closure of the National Park System was, with Republicans blaming the Senate for not voting on a measure that would have provided funding to open the parks and charging the Obama administration with making the parks' closure inconvenient and harsher than it might have been, while Democrats saddled the blame on the Republicans in the House for refusing to approve the Senate's Continuing Resolution to fund government.
Rep. Pete Defazio, D-Oregon, at one point held up a mirror to the Republicans on the two committees and remarked, "Here's who is responsible for shutting down the national parks."
In response to a question from Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, the director acknowledged the closure of the park system didn't go as smoothly as it might have.
"We haven't done this in 20 years. Shutting down is hard and complicated. There were some lessons learned here," said Director Jarvis.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, said he was disgusted by this "sham of a hearing," calling it a "kangaroo court" and pointless other than to give some an opportunity to offer soundbites and toss about reckless claims.
In sum, he said, the hearing "makes the McCarthy era look like the Enlightenment."
Comments
And our children lost.
Mike, I actually agree with you this time...kinda.
I don't necessarily think there were any winners, not after 16 days of the mess that was created. And as a taxpayer it angers me that nothing was accomplished for the long run, other than to appoint yet another committee to find a solution that the majority of both parties can support.
To reach that solution, all need to give something, including the president, the moderates, and the extreme right (and left) wings. If we encounter the same bruising, damaging battle in mid-Januay, and again in February, this episode will have accomplished nothing, and we're all worse off for that.
it angers me too.... it angers all of us regardless of political positions.
Our Federal Government is moribund. Odds are that we will re-live this past couple of weeks again just in time for Christmas. We can all look forward to that...
Fournier's unstated conclusion foretells the future: The President is more interested in "winning" than he is in dealing with either deficits or the debt. It's as simple as that.
Leadership begins at the top.... we have no leadership.
I loved hearing Jarvis's tactics being exposed, that must have been really painful for all you NPS sheeple. There is no question now that he needs to go.
Its bad for all, we're all being led into the demise or "fundemental change" of the USA. This battle was lost, but fortunately some of us have enough common sense and will continue to fight the good fight.
What are sheeple?
Look in the mirror.
How so?
Justin, sheeple are those poor, pathetic creatures that actually believe what they hear on hate radio and read on extremist blogs.