Today, Rethink the Deal, a grassroots public interest campaign, launched a national storytelling campaign to spotlight the real-world impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts to America’s national parks. This campaign will gather, analyze, and amplify first-hand experiences from park visitors, small businesses, and national park employees to highlight the consequences of deep budget cuts that have crippled the parks during peak travel season.
The 433 parks pay for themselves and are more popular than ever, drawing a record 332 million visitors in 2024 (plus a 76% approval rating), but this summer they’re facing a critical test. The national parks are on the frontlines. Rethink the Deal wants to know what visitors have seen or experienced at the parks.
Trump budget cuts are leaving millions of Americans heading to parks this summer, encountering uncleaned restrooms, closed trails, shuttered visitor centers, and severe staffing shortages. National parks are more than scenic getaways; they’re economic engines for countless local communities.
- The National Park Service received $3.475 billion in federal funding, BUT put $55.6 billion back into the economy.
- They supported 415,000 jobs, generated $19.4 billion in taxable wages, and yielded roughly $2.7 billion in federal income tax.
America’s national parks are a symbol of pride for the United States. Individuals from across the country and the world travel to Yellowstone, Guadalupe, and the Everglades to enjoy their natural beauty. Now it is time to quantify the impacts of the administration’s cuts.
Individual stories can make a difference. It’s only when those in charge hear from the people they represent that change can happen. To learn more about the campaign, click here.
Time to Rethink the Deal?
There are striking imbalances between what states pay into the federal system and what they get back: states like New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington get back barely $0.60 for every dollar they send to Washington. And the poor Delaware taxpayers don’t even get back that much – only 57.25¢ for every dollar they pay into the system. Economic engines such as California (86¢), Texas (84¢), Florida (94¢), and Illinois (87¢), which rank among the largest contributors to the national economy, are effectively subsidizing the rest of the country.
Rethink the Deal is a 501c(4) nonprofit organization which aims to spark a broader discussion about the unfairness of some states paying more into the federal system than they receive in return. There is a persistent and structural inequity that leaves many states, high-performing economic states in particular, footing the bill for a federal system that may fail to serve their interests.
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