While the White House stuck by its decision to scrap public tours because of automatic budget cuts, those who work in Congress will see a different decision on cuts, as House and Senate officials announced a series of security changes because of spending reductions.
In a letter sent to lawmakers and their staffs, top officials laid out access changes to the Capitol and office buildings for the House and Senate, what they described as "our effort to match limited law enforcement resources with necessary security requirements."
Here is the letter sent out earlier this week:
Dear Members of Congress and Congressional Staffers,
As a follow-up to our March 1, 2013, notice regarding access changes resulting from the Budget Control Act of 2011 and American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, we have continued our effort to match limited law enforcement resources with necessary security requirements. The budget impact of the sequestration provision will require the modification of the following access points for Members, Congressional Staff and guests to the U.S. Capitol Complex, effective at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, March 11, 2013.
Please be aware that there are additional Capitol Police interior posts and other services affected by sequestration not listed on this message which may increase wait times but not negatively impact security; we regret any inconvenience.
The following doors will be closed until further notice :
Cannon Building:
Northeast Door (Independence & First Street, SE)
Southwest Door (New Jersey & C Street, SE)
Dirksen Building:
Dirksen Visitors Entrance
North Dirksen Garage Entrance
Ford Building:
Third Street Door
Rayburn Building:
First Street Pedestrian Door
Russell Building:
Rotunda Door
First Street and C Street Door
Courtyard Entrance
U.S. Capitol Building:
Lower West Terrace Door
The following doors will operate under a modified-reduced schedule :
Hart Building: Constitution Avenue Door – 9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Rayburn Building: C Street Door – 5:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Russell Building: First Street & Constitution Avenue Door – 9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
The following vehicular access points will be closed :
Independence Avenue & South Capitol Street
South Capitol Street & D Street
Independence Avenue & First Street, SW
The following garage entrances will be closed
:
Russell East Legislative Garage Door (entry/exit Delaware Avenue., NE)
East House Underground (Lower D Street) Garage Door (entry/exit via Upper D Street Garage, E Level)
All closed doors will remain available for emergency egress purposes.
(I did have to chuckle at that list of closures, because the one entrance to the Capitol that will be shuttered - the "Lower West Terrace Door" - that is my favorite way to enter and leave the Capitol each day.)
Meanwhile, the White House isn't budging from the decision to scrap public tours of the Executive Mansion as a way to save money in the Secret Service budget.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters the following on Thursday:
The fact is the Secret Service, like other agencies of government, is affected by the sequester. And the Secret Service presented options that ranged from canceling tours to potential furloughs and cuts in overtime. And in order to allow the Secret Service to best fulfill its core mission, the White House made the decision that we would, unfortunately, have to temporarily suspend these tours.
I think the point we've made broadly about the sequester when there have been questions raised about what kind of flexibility exists is that the tradeoffs here are never good because of the nature of the cuts and the way that the law is written. And whether it’s in the education budget, where if you're given flexibility, your option is to give less money to disabled kids so you can give more money to poor kids, more support to poor kids -- this is a similar kind of tradeoff, and it’s very unfortunate.
And we are obviously disappointed about that kind of decision, but it would have been far better, in our view, if Congress had taken action to delay the sequester in the very same way they took action two months ago -- two and a half months ago, to delay the sequester to avoid just this kind of outcome.
Back at the Capitol, Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans continued to ridicule the White House about their choice, proclaiming that the Capitol will remain open to tourists.
"I’d like to start this morning by letting the American people know that the United States Capitol is open to visitors, we’d love to have the American people come and visit their Capitol. You know, even though our budget’s been cut like everyone else’s, thanks to proper planning, we’re able to avoid furloughs amongst Capitol workers and tours are going to remain available for all Americans. I think it’s disappointing that the Obama administration didn’t follow our lead and find savings in other parts of their budget. I think it’s silly that they’ve insisted on locking down the White House, which the American people actually own."
