WASHINGTON, D.C. — Imagine having a $12 billion repair bill.

It actually exists — all throughout America’s national parks. And Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) is trying to come up with the money to pay for it.

“This would be the most historic parks bill in several generations,” Portman said at a press conference last week.

He joined Republicans and Democrats outside the Capitol to talk about the ‘Restore Our Parks Act.’

“Even in a dysfunctional Washington, this should be a no-brainer,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).

Throughout America’s 61 national parks and 419 monuments, rivers and trails maintained by the National Park Service, nearly $12 billion worth of repairs have been postponed for more than a year because there isn’t money to pay for them.

“Our funding tends to be discretionary funding to just sort of keep the parks going, the programs going, but not to deal with the infrastructure,” Portman said.

The ‘Restore Our Parts Act’ would direct about $6.5 billion of oil and gas revenues to the park service over five years, to begin fixing the most urgent projects.

A photo of an abandoned home waiting to be demolished in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park was used as an example at the press conference.

“It’s a safety hazard,” Portman said of the home. “Law enforcement’s concerned about it. And yet, we don’t have the funding.”

He added: “If you don’t fix these things now, the costs only mount.”

A Senate and House version of this bill was reintroduced in February after it failed to get voted on last Congress.

As of Monday, the House version has 214 cosponsors, but the Senate version only has 37.

“I think on the Republican side, frankly, there’s some hesitancy about the mandatory spending aspect of it,” Portman said. “But this is the right use for that mandatory spending.”

Portman, who sponsored the Senate bill, called the parks a national treasure and said this should be a non-partisan issue because it wouldn’t take money away from anywhere else.

“This is about us taking responsibility for a debt that has built up over time,” he said.

The National Park Service says the repairs needing to be done range from bridges and tunnels, to buildings, campgrounds, waste water systems and more.