Republican lawmakers plan to investigate mounting reports that federal officials are kicking families out of their homes and shuttering private businesses because they sit on federal parkland -- describing the spectacle as an over-the-top response to the partial government shutdown.
"We are receiving a lot of reports" of businesses being shut down, said Mallory Micetich, spokeswoman for Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee.
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[An] innkeeper tried, unsuccessfully, to repel federal efforts to shut down his business, the Pisgah Inn, last week.
Owner Bruce O'Connell told FoxNews.com on Monday that rangers are still outside his business, blocking the entrance to the parking lot. As of late Monday morning, he said there were three cars and five rangers stationed outside.
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According to KTNV in Nevada, Joyce Spencer, 77, and her husband Ralph, 80, were told to leave their home last week because it sits on federal land. The couple reportedly has owned the home since the 1970s, but were given 24 hours to get out last week.
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In Philadelphia, NBC 10 reports that the iconic City Tavern restaurant was also told to close, since it sits inside Independence National Historical Park.
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House Natural Resources Committee leaders wrote last week to National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis asking his agency to keep all correspondence pertaining to decisions on what to open and what to close.
Among the issues they'll examine, they wrote, will be "the staff time and costs associated with the transport, erection, and maintenance of the barriers ... [and] the staff time and costs associated with patrolling and securing these sites prior to and during their closure."
