WASHINGTON 鈥斅營n October 2013 he went viral after mowing the grass around the Lincoln Memorial during the government shutdown. But now Chris Cox has given up pushing that lawnmower and has turned his attention to pushing Congress to take up a bill that would have a big impact on the tourism industry the next time there鈥檚 a prolonged shutdown.
It’s called “The Monuments Protection Act,”聽and it鈥檚 backed by California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The bill was introduced this week.
If passed, the bill would require both the Interior Department and Agriculture Department to work out deals with state and local governments so that 鈥減ublic land, open air monuments and memorials, units of the National Park System, units of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and units of the National Forest System鈥� would be maintained and operated even during a federal shutdown.
For Cox, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, it鈥檚 really about making sure the iconic monuments and memorials dedicated to America鈥檚 servicemen and women along the National Mall remain open no matter what.
Cox called these shutdowns 鈥減olitical鈥� and 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥�
“These monuments for the most part were approved by Congress. They don鈥檛 have entrances and they don鈥檛 have exits, so to me it was implied they would never shut down,鈥� Cox said.
鈥淒uring the lapse of appropriations or for any other reasons, when these memorials like the Vietnam Wall and the World War II Memorial shut down, it鈥檚 really an injustice to our veterans,鈥� Cox said.
The impacts of the monuments protection bill would be far more wide reaching and would be a boost to the tourism industry around the country.
Cox cites businesses in Arizona that serve visitors to the Grand Canyon as one beneficiary. But he also noted that the 2013 shutdown had a big impact in the D.C. area.
There were losses of 鈥�$17 million a day in lost revenue,” Cox said. “Now that鈥檚 not counting the airports, the hotels, the taxi cab drivers, the tour guides. You can鈥檛 predict a government shutdown.”
This isn鈥檛 the first time Issa and Norton have teamed up together on this bill. In 2014, Cox got them to sign on to a similar measure, but his initial efforts went nowhere.
Some lawmakers worried it would set a precedent where Congress would start picking and choosing winners in a shutdown and put the government on the path of eroding away the downsides of a shutdown and the accompanying urgency Congress should have in preventing one.
Cox said some lawmakers also told him what happened in 2013 would never happen again.
While he doesn鈥檛 plan to go back and say 鈥淚 told you so,鈥� Cox did point out there have been two shutdowns in just the last month.
鈥淭here are certain parts of this government we need to keep operating,鈥� Cox said. 鈥淭his is a win not only for the veterans, but for the country. There鈥檚 really no excuse for us to polarize the nation any more than it already is during a government shutdown.鈥�
