House Republicans are investigating the decision to close off the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington after veterans groups were initially denied access to the memorial in what has become a defining symbol of the government slimdown's impact.

Senior Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter Wednesday to National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis asking him to retain all documents related to the "arbitrary" closures of open-air monuments and parks in the nation's capital.The committee is considering hearings to determine whether the Obama administration ordered the "outrageous" closures in an attempt to "make the current lapse in appropriations as conspicuous and painful to the public as possible," according to the letter from chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and subcommittee chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Honestly I really wanted to use some of our national parks this weekend but that is the least of the problems here. People are out of work for no reason and they will not be able to feed their children or pay their bills