Hot Air » tours

Jay Carney “contradicts” Obama: No, actually, it was the White House who canceled public tours

Allahpundit — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:21:05 +0000

Crisis.

The GOP cut this clip earlier, now I’m seeing people tweet it as proof that Carney and Obama can’t get their story straight on who’s to blame for the cynical “Fireman First” decision that canceled White House tours over sequestration. O said that decision wasn’t up to the White House; Carney says it was. Aha! [...]

Read this post »

Obama: Hey, don’t blame me for those canceled White House tours

Allahpundit — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:41:22 +0000

Responsibility.

Via Byron York, skip to 2:33 for the key bit. And remember, not only did the GOP offer to give him extra flexibility on what to cut as part of the sequester — which he refused, naturally — but federal agencies already enjoy some inherent flexibility in moving money around and could ask Congress for [...]

Read this post »

Video: WH saving $18,000 a week canceling tours

Ed Morrissey — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:21:04 +0000

Doing the math.

The decision to close the White House to visitors after the budget sequester took effect is a classic example of the “Washington Monument” strategy to fight budget cuts (similar to the “fireman first” strategy). The first person to try this was George Hartzog, director of the National Parks Service, who in 1969 closed the Washington [...]

View the video »

Sequestermania: White House calligraphers making $277,000 as WH public tours are suspended

Allahpundit — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:21:26 +0000

Draconian.

O’s staff had to realize that suspending the tours would lead to endless embarrassing scrutiny of this sort, right? It’s an engraved invitation to point out the myriad ways in which the feds are wasting money. Even as a cheap “Fireman First” ploy to make the public fret about budget cuts, it’s so much more [...]

Read this post »

It’s come to this: Sequestration forces cancellation of … White House tours

Allahpundit — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:41:59 +0000

Pain.

I was prepared to laugh it off but then I found out they’re canceling tours at Joe Biden’s home too. Obviously it’s serious. No, really, though, our president’s a joke: The White House announced Tuesday that it was canceling all public tours of the president’s home because of the sequester spending cuts. “Due to staffing [...]

Read this post »