Sequester-driven budgets cuts means that President Obama should give up playing golf as long as taxpayer money is involved, according to a Texas Congressman.
Rep. Louie Gomert maintains that Obama should not be playing golf on the public dime as long as White House Tours have been cancelled because of the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts (a tiny part of the overall federal budget) that took effect on March 1.
Gomert introduced an amendment to the so-called Continuing Resolution budget bill to keep the government running at current levels (necessary because of the lack of an actual federal budget) in the House of Representatives to do just that. Gomert maintains that furloughing 341 federal employees could have been avoided had Obama not traveled to Florida for a three-day golf trip which included playing with Tiger Woods. Parenthetically, there was a lot of unhappiness among the press corps for the lack of access to Obama during that excursion.
According to Politico , Obama would not be able to play golf without spending federal money to travel to and from the courses:
“Since the president can’t get anywhere without public expense — like the cost of transportation or the Secret Service detail that follows him around — it’s impossible for him to make it to a golf course without spending public funds.”
Rep. Gomert’s amendment, which is directly connected to the White House tours issue, reads as follows:
“None of the funds made available by a division of this act may be used to transport the president to or from a golf course until public tours of the White House resume.”
Since no amendments are permitted for the Continuing Resolution, Gomert’s initiative is largely symbolic at least for now.
President Obama has played 115 rounds of golf since he’s been in office. In comparison, his predecessor George W. Bush played golf 24 times in eight years.
Do you think President Obama should suspend his golf outings until the budget dispute gets resolved?
Watch Rep. Gomert introduce his amendment on the House floor:
