Who Shut Down the Parks? Memorial Closures Probed

The Competitive Enterprise Institute says the Obama administration has gone too far in its implementation of the shutdown.

Shutting down mostly un-gated and unguarded public spaces is hurting citizens who run private businesses on federal land. CIE has filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking public records on who made the decisions and why.

“Some of these closure decisions seem to have been driven not by legal obligations, but by gamesmanship — specifically, how to inflict so much pain on the public that future shutdowns become unthinkable,” Sam Kazman, the general counsel for CEI, said.

Agency officials who respond to FOIA requests may be furloughed at present, but CEI expects a response within 20 working days from the time federal workers return.