Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) challenged the National Parks Service (NPS) today for its relative treatment of Occupy protesters and veterans seeking access to war memorials during the government shutdown.
Gowdy was questioning NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis during a U.S. House hearing for not citing campers in McPherson Square during the Occupy D.C. movement, yet swiftly moving to cut off access to war memorials on the first day of the shutdown. Jarvis claimed that he carved out First Amendment exemptions for activity on the National Mall, but the South Carolina Republican wasn’t satisfied.
“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.
While Jarvis replied that the Parks Service was ‘content-neutral’ as it related to First Amendment activity on the Mall, Gowdy was persistent.
“That wasn’t my question. Do you consider it to be an exercise of your First Amendment rights to walk to a monument that you helped build?”
The NPS director said that veterans could enter a memorial by ‘declaring’ their First Amendment rights, but in reference to furloughed employees, Gowdy incredulously asked who they were to declare those rights to.
“A barricade?” he asked sarcastically.
Watch the full video below.
(h/t The Blaze)
