Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging them to implement the provisions of the Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks Act before Memorial Day weekend. In part, the members wrote:
"Despite NDAA becoming law in December 2021, lifetime passes for veterans and Gold Star Families are not yet being distributed and no date has been announced for distribution to begin. With the upcoming Memorial Day holiday and summer rapidly approaching, millions of veterans and Gold Star Families are planning visits to our national parks and federal lands to recreate and enjoy time together in the outdoors. We owe it to these veterans and Gold Star Families to make sure that they can access our parks and federal lands with the America the Beautiful lifetime passes they have been promised.
"It is imperative that the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture work together to immediately ensure that the new America the Beautiful lifetime passes are made available by Memorial Day so our nation’s heroes can access the lands that they fought and sacrificed to protect. We also encourage your agencies to make information about these passes publicly available to ensure that veterans and Gold Star Families are aware of their eligibility for free access to our federal lands."
