The White House announced that it is cancelling public visitor tours as a result of the $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester.
President Obama warned Americans that the sequester would negatively impact the country by cutting government jobs, causing long lines at airports, closing national parks and slowing the prosecution of criminals weeks ago. However, the White House and Congress still failed to compromise on an alternative budget deal that would have prevented the automatic cuts from kicking in on March 1.
In order to scale back on the budget, the White House has nixed tours of the executive mansion starting March 9.
"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," the White House Visitors Office said via email on Tuesday.
"We very much regret having to take this action, particularly during the popular spring touring season," read the note.
According to the White House website, the tours are self-guided and normally take place Tuesday through Saturday. It requires people to submit tour requests at least three weeks in advance through members of Congress, while non-citizens have to apply through their embassy.
In 2012, about 657,000 toured the White House and visited the complex for recreational purposes, according to the National Park Service. Since 1954, nearly 64 million people have toured the White House or made recreational visits to the complex.
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