Providence Journal video by Sandor Bodo
LINCOLN -- Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell made easy work of kayaking a stretch of the historic Blackstone River Friday as three of Rhode Island's Democratic congressmen paddled close behind.
But with financing and staffing cuts reported this year at national parks around the country -- one result of a federal budget standoff -- the question is whether designating a Blackstone national historic park in northern Rhode Island and Massachusetts will prove a tough row through rough rapids.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed struck a confident tone at a riverfront news conference after he and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Rep. David N. Cicilline kayaked with Jewell and others Friday morning. Reed said the legislation has cleared a Senate committee, and he sounded hopeful it will get Senate and House approval. Reed cast the process as "two separate paths" and said that it will be about looking for the right moment and right legislative vehicle to get the bill passed.
"The first step is to get it legally authorized," Reed said, referring to an act of Congress required to designate the park. Then, he said, he would sit down with Jewell to figure out how to make staffing and other issues work.