GOP calls on Obama to end pricey vacations until White House tours resume

A dozen House Republicans have proposed a resolution that calls on President Obama to stop taking vacations until White House tours are allowed to resume.

The Obama administration has said it would cancel White House tours in order to deal with the $85 billion sequester that took effect this month. But Republicans have said that decision is meant to inflict noticeable pain on the public, and is not the result of an effort to find waste or make sensible cuts in other areas of the executive branch.

"We don't have a problem with him taking vacations, but it seems petty to close the White House to tours, when forgoing one or two out-of-town vacations would easily pay for the cost of keeping it open," Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said Wednesday. "It's unfortunate that instead of choosing to eliminate wasteful or duplicative government spending as a result of the President's sequester, he has chosen to close the White House to the public.

"The President is again showing his dedication to politics and not to pursuing sound public policy."

Stewart's resolution, H.Res. 111, finds that the cost of keeping the White House tours open is $3.7 million per year. It also finds that Obama has taken four vacations in Hawaii during the last four years that cost a total of $16 million.

It then strongly suggests that Obama should stop taking these trips, and instead use the savings to reopen the White House tours.

"Resolved, that the President should refrain from any further vacations at the taxpayers' expense until such sums have been saved that the people's White House can be re-opened for public tours," the resolution reads.

Last week, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) proposed an amendment to the 2013 continuing resolution that would prohibit taxpayer money from being used to transport Obama to or from a golf course until the White House tours resume. But the GOP-led Rules Committee did not make that amendment in order.

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