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Congress votes to fund Elvis Cruises, Wine Trains but won't fund White House Tours

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Go figure, the Democrats voted, in a straight party line vote, to fund such silly things a rides on "wine trains" where passengers taste wines, as well as "Elvis cruises" and workshops on the craft of making Ukranian style Easter eggs . . . but would not fund White House tours.

First off, I have a problem with government being in the entertainment business. Nowhere do I see in our Constitution the authority for the Federal Government to entertain me. Now if a state government chooses to do that, at state level, and if the state constitutions allow for it then I won't complain, but its not a power granted to the Feds.

LINKY => http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Govern...-Tours-for-Elvis-Cruises-Ukranian-Easter-Eggs
The Senate on Wednesday refused to divert federal funds from Elvis cruises, wine trains, and Ukrainian Easter egg workshops by rejecting an amendment that would have funded the White House tours that President Obama slashed as a part of the sequester.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment to the Senate's $984 billion spending bill to fund the government after March 27 that would have diverted $8 million from the Heritage Areas to fund the White House tours and historical sites.

According to The Hill, Coburn's amendment failed on a 45-54 vote that was straight down party lines, as Democrats wanted to protect Obama from what would have been considered a defeat.

Coburn said the Heritage Areas fund supports "wine trains, Elvis cruises and Ukrainian Easter Egg workshops."

“President Obama has called on Congress to take action to avoid the harmful effects of sequestration,” Coburn said. “This amendment uses the administration’s own recommendations to reduce funding for lower-priority Heritage Areas and shifts those funds to protect and restore access to the White House and our national parks and monuments.”
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
So the Democrats have to admit, they do not want Americans to visit the people's house? Whe knew?:whistling:
 

Jim_S

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
So the Democrats have to admit, they do not want Americans to visit the people's house? Whe knew?:whistling:

Last I heard the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt is on the chopping block.

If the current residents would just cut their next vacation by a couple of days we could save enough to keep the tours and the eggs!

Jim
 
Coburn has been after the Napa Valley Wine Train for years. In 2009, he and Senator McCain criticized a $54 million appropriation to raise two train trestle bridges (part of a larger flood control project) as "wasteful or silly."

Now, I'm not a particular fan of the flood control project here in town. My feeling is "If you live in a flood plain, expect your feet to get wet." Same thing as "If you build your house on a crack in the Earth, it's your own fault." And the Wine Train is no big deal, I've been on it a couple of times and it's a tourist thing. I can take it or leave it, don't care if it exists one way or the other. BUT - when a plan is approved and funded and underway, you don't try to yank funds away and screw up the project for the sake of political grandstanding. And if you read between the lines, Coburn is doing the same kind of grandstanding now as he was doing 4 years ago.

By the way, all that bridge work is finished, completed, over and done with. The Heritage Areas fund isn't "paying for wine trains." Claims to the contrary are BS. And why did Coburn want to shift funds from Heritage Areas to the Secret Service? It's the SS budget that pays for the White House tours in the first place.

Sorry guys, but political grandstanding is one of the causes of the problems in Washington. Coburn is part of the problem, not the solution. Obama cut the tours funding as part of sequester, and then pointed out the "pain that the tourists were going to feel." More grandstanding.

You don't fix a problem by piling on more of the same problem.
 
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