{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-cortez-masto-introduce-bill-to-create-fee-free-days-of-public-service-on-federal-lands/", "Hickenlooper, Cortez Masto Introduce Bill to Create Fee-Free Days of Public Service on Federal Lands", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "John W. Hickenlooper", "H000273", "www.hickenlooper.senate.gov", "hickenlooper", "https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press/page/", "scraper", "Last week, President Trump removed MLK Day, Juneteenth from list of Fee-Free Days, included his birthday instead\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Catherine Cortez Masto, along with five of their Senate colleagues, introduced the Encouraging Public Service in Our National Parks and Public Land Act to codify six days where visitors to National Parks and other federal lands can enter free-of-charge. This legislation directs the Secretary of the Interior to officially designate Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s Birthday, the first day of National Park Week, Juneteenth, Great American Outdoors Day, National Public Lands Day, and Veterans Day as fee-free entry days.\n\n\u201cCelebrating our national parks is part of the Colorado way of life,\u201d said Hickenlooper. \u201cTaking away days where people can visit our parks for free is another example of Trump\u2019s attacks on our public lands.\u201d\n\n\u201cFree entry days were created as a way for our National Parks to encourage public service and volunteer work,\u201d said Senator Cortez Masto. \u201cIt\u2019s our national responsibility to protect and maintain our public lands \u2013 so let\u2019s recommit to ensuring free entry days promote this patriotic act of service, not stroke the President\u2019s ego.\u201d\n\nSince the National Park System and other land management agencies began collecting entry and recreation fees, the Department of the Interior has offered fee-free days to promote America\u2019s public lands, especially on select federal holidays where many Americans already have the day off. Last week, the Trump administration cut Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s Birthday and Juneteenth, two holidays honoring Black history, from its list of free entrance days and replaced them with his birthday.\n\nThe legislation would restore these two holidays to the list of free entrance days and make a list of public service days permanently fee-free. Additional free entry days would be possible at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. The dates are as follows:\n\nMartin Luther King Jr.\u2019s Birthday, the third Monday in January\n\nThe first day of National Park Week in April\n\nJuneteenth, June 19\n\nGreat American Outdoors Day, August 4\n\nNational Public Lands Day, the fourth Saturday in September\n\nVeterans Day, November 11\n\nFull text of the bill is available HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-cortez-masto-introduce-bill-to-create-fee-free-days-of-public-service-on-federal-lands/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.417800085619092, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}