The Patriot Post® · The Cost of the Shutdown

The Interior Department has released a recap of the infamous government shutdown, during which they barricaded the World War II Memorial in DC among other obnoxious closures meant to maximize the pain. Interior says that the shutdown resulted in 7.88 million fewer visitors to national parks and an accompanying economic loss for surrounding communities of $414 million. Blame once again primarily is laid at the feet of congressional Republicans, but, as already noted, the Interior Department made the shutdown far more painful than it needed to be. And when that department controls one-third of the surface area in the U.S., some pain is bound to happen.