I had CNBC on my SIRIUS radio yesterday evening while I was on my way to a meeting. I heard Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner use the term “Silly” in response to a question from an interviewer as he was describing some of the reactions various government officials have had toward the reality of the SEQUESTER that kicked in on March 1. Specifically, he was referring to a rumor that citizen tours of the White House were going to be canceled as a “cost cutting” move. Since I was looking forward to a trip to our Nation’s Capitol this spring and had arranged just such a tour my interest was piqued.

I remember the day this past January when I first tried to schedule the tour with our newly elected Congressperson, Raul Ruiz’ office. The schedulers were extremely excited and motivated to make our dream of touring the White House a reality. I surmised that they were so new on the job this was still a shiny penny among their daily duties to be able to do something positive for a constituent. Enthusiastic emails followed in the days after my request with details and requests for personal information in order to complete our security check.

This morning, my email included the following gem:

Dear 36th District Constituents,

Late Tuesday evening, our office received an email from the White House Visitors Office regarding tours. As you might already know, the email contained bad news for our office, but more importantly you the constituent. In an email sent to members of Congress, the White House said:

ATTN Interested Parties,

Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration, we regret to inform you that White House Tours will be canceled effective Saturday, March 9, 2013 until further notice. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours.
We very much regret having to take this action, particularly during the popular Spring touring season. For updates regarding this situation, please contact the White House Visitors Office 24 Hour Hotline at (202) 456-7041.

Sincerely,
White House Visitors Office

As I previously stated, this news is very unfortunate. The White House has not offered any other additional information regarding the tours but you can be sure I will inform you of any new developments.

We don’t want this news to ruin your trip to Washington D.C. The District has many incredible sites and tours, and we will be more than happy to request any additional tours. For example, The Capitol Visitors Center offers a great tour of the history of the U.S. Capitol building and our office provides you and your group passes to the House Gallery. Our office is here to make this trip memorable, please let us help you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact me.

On behalf of Congressman Ruiz, we hope that your group enjoys their visit to our Nation’s Capital.

Enrique Gutierrez
Staff Assistant
The Honorable Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36)
1319 Longworth HOB | P: (202) 225-5330
http://www.ruiz.house.gov

Now, I sit in wonder if this isn’t just some mean trick by a group of politicians hoping to get their own way or an entirely plausible way for the government to save Billions of Dollars that are required by the sequester legislation? I also wonder why I haven’t heard about the lawmakers taking across the board salary cuts and jettisoning their limos and other perks in the interest of belt-tightening; things that if put into reality would hardly be noticed by us “constituents” but would, no doubt, far outpace canceling White House Tours in the money-saving department. Nope, letting bad guys out of prison and canceling White House Tours for the very people who pay the light bill seems to be the answer.  I suspect it will get more headlines than some of the other stuff.

We’ll have a good time anyway. We are going to see the Washington Nationals play baseball.