<p>You are not welcome to tour the White House anymore!<br /><br /></p>.<p>US President Barack Obama's administration announced yesterday that all public tours of the White House will be cancelled after Friday because of budget cuts hitting all areas of the federal government.<br /><br />The cancellation likely will disappoint thousands of tourists who had planned to take a tour while visiting Washington.<br /><br />Tickets for the free, self-guided tours are distributed through congressional offices.<br />The tickets normally are scooped up between three weeks and six months in advance.<br /><br />People holding tickets affected by the cancellation won't get an automatic rain check, according to an e-mail sent by the White House yesterday.<br /><br />"Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours," the message was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying.<br /><br />The tours are being cancelled because the White House took a USD 1 million hit to its budget, under the sweeping spending reductions imposed across government last Friday night.<br /><br />Those reductions were mandated under a 2011 deal between President Obama and Republicans in Congress.<br /><br />They were meant to be so painful, that they would force the two sides to reach an agreement on other ways to reduce the deficit.<br /><br />But that compromise never emerged and on Friday USD 85 billion in spending reductions took effect.</p>
<p>You are not welcome to tour the White House anymore!<br /><br /></p>.<p>US President Barack Obama's administration announced yesterday that all public tours of the White House will be cancelled after Friday because of budget cuts hitting all areas of the federal government.<br /><br />The cancellation likely will disappoint thousands of tourists who had planned to take a tour while visiting Washington.<br /><br />Tickets for the free, self-guided tours are distributed through congressional offices.<br />The tickets normally are scooped up between three weeks and six months in advance.<br /><br />People holding tickets affected by the cancellation won't get an automatic rain check, according to an e-mail sent by the White House yesterday.<br /><br />"Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours," the message was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying.<br /><br />The tours are being cancelled because the White House took a USD 1 million hit to its budget, under the sweeping spending reductions imposed across government last Friday night.<br /><br />Those reductions were mandated under a 2011 deal between President Obama and Republicans in Congress.<br /><br />They were meant to be so painful, that they would force the two sides to reach an agreement on other ways to reduce the deficit.<br /><br />But that compromise never emerged and on Friday USD 85 billion in spending reductions took effect.</p>