Earlier this week, the White House announced that they will halt all public tours of the White House on account of the mandated sequester cuts that kicked in on March 1. The WH tour cuts will save $74K a week which is around $2M for the fiscal year which ends on September 30.
However, “according to the Secret Service, officers normally assigned to the public tours are being reassigned to other posts.” If these agents are merely being reassigned, they are still working and getting paid. So, where are the cuts?
The OMB Report to the Congress on the Sequestration for FY 2013, details that sequestrable amount of the WH budget is $57M, the sequester percent is 5% totaling $3M in cuts required. After the sequester, the WH budget is down to $54M. (as an aside, the WH budget for FY 2009 was $53.9M, and we still managed to have WH tours.)
Even assuming the WH tours are $2M in cuts, there are still $1M in cuts to be made.
So again, I ask where are the cuts, if the Secret Service agents required for tours are merely reassigned? This certainly isn’t a sequester cut: Obama Takes 20-Car Motorcade Six Blocks ot Have Dinner or this: Preparations Underway for Obama Vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.
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