National Park Service has it all wrong!!??

agesilaus wrote:
I can assure you that NPS hates the senior pass and has repeatedly tried to kill it. But Congress passed the law creating the card and refuses to change it.

There is a lot of speculation and numbers being thrown around in this thread. Let's go to the official NPS numbers:

Here's a quote from the 2016 NPS budget proposal:
"The Act is currently scheduled to expire in September 2016 as authorized in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015. The 2016 budget proposes a general provision (Section 413) to further extend authorization for FLREA (Federal Lands Rec. Enh. Act) through September 30, 2017, as a short-term alternative to proposed legislation for long-term reauthorization."
That sounds like support to me.

Through the Rec Enh. Act (of which America the Beautiful Pass is a part) the NPS pulled in an estimated $192.5 million in 2016.

Here's what it will take in 2016 to run the parks: $2.5 billion.
"The proposed FY 2016 funding level for this appropriation, which supports the operation of the nation's parks, the preservation and protection of the precious resources contained within, and the provision of recreational opportunities and enjoyment of these resources by current and future visitors is $2.5 billion, reflecting a net increase of $239.4 million over the FY 2015 enacted level, consisting of a series of targeted programmatic increases totaling $213.4 million and fixed cost increases totaling $25.3 million."

This is the Centennial Year for the NPS, so there is a bump in funding to accomodate some sprucing up as well as the expected increased visitation.

Running the parks and running its programs, including fee collections is a complicated matter. If you have any question about that, take a read through the Official 2016 NPS Budget Justifications document. This is the document that I have quoted from in the above numbers.
NPS 2016 Budget Justification