South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy ripped into National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis during a searing exchange on Wednesday, demanding he cite which criminal statue required the erecting of barricades around the World War II memorial during the government shutdown.
A visibly angry Gowdy ripped into Jarvis and relentlessly pursued his question: “What regulation can you cite to me that requires you by law to erect barricades?”
Unimpressed with Jarvis’s response that the Anti-Deficiency Act compelled him to shut down the national parks and barricade the open-air memorials, Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, asked why the NPS did not enforce regulations against camping for 100 days when Occupy Wall Street protesters descended onto Washington, D.C.’s McPherson Square in late 2011.
“Do you consider it First Amendment activity to walk to a monument that you helped build, or is it only just smoking pot at McPherson Square?” Gowdy asked.
“We are content-neutral on First Amendment on the National Mall,” Jarvis replied.
