One effect of the US being pushed over the budget is that the national monument the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York has been kept closed to visitors since Saturday when parts of the state apparatus shut down. However, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo now promises to use state money to reopen the tourist attraction.

– We will speak with the government as soon as someone picks up the phone, says Cuomo, who calls the closure of the statue a ”great injustice”.

During the previous US government shutdown in 2013, a number of governors used state funds to keep national parks and state monuments open, including the Statue of Liberty. At that time, it cost $61,600 (over SEK 490,000) per day to keep the Statue of Liberty open.

Cuomo, who belongs to the Democrats, justifies his decision by stating that the statue is a symbol of the USA and of New York.

Source: TT-Reuters