The yawning gap between costs for seniors and everyone else is a good example of what's politically wrong in Washington. Giving a lifetime pass for a one-time $15 vs. $50 (or $80) a year is hard to view as fair given the fact that many pass recipients can better afford the costs than ones who don't qualify.

It's all politics, as the lifetime pass was needed to buy off seniors who would have vehemently opposed the plans otherwise. One-time admission costs have jumped substantially ($20 at many places now that were $5 some years back). It's basically a backdoor tax increase targeted at the middle class - introduce something, call it a "user fee," then gradually raise it. All to lower taxes at the top (OTOH, the entire park service budget is a rounding error vs. Iraq). Republicans get scared if you can successfully label it a tax increase, but are just fine with rafts of "user fees" that hit the middle hardest (air travel being another classic case of that, and passport costs another).

With the Democrats I don't expect much change to the costs, but they should restore much of the public side of the funding and even put in more for land acquisition. That was one of Bill Clinton's pet areas.