Smith bringing fired parks worker to presidential address

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced Monday that Kate Severson, a former Park Ranger at Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota impacted by Elon Musk’s deep cuts at the National Park Service, will be her guest at the President’s Joint Address to Congress tonight. 

Smith said "the indiscriminate mass firing of all probationary federal employees by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency forced the firings of more than 1,000 National Park Service employees." With these reductions in staffing, campsites and bathrooms won’t be cleaned, trails will become overgrown, trash won’t get picked up and parks will become more dangerous for visitors, Smith said.