NYT Calls Out Obama’s Jetsetting While his Sequester Causes Pain

May 30, 2013

Even as his administration continues to stumble through scandal after scandal, President Obama is still traveling the country on taxpayer dime attending high-dollar fundraisers to help Nancy Pelosi become Speaker again. It looks like the New York Times has noticed all of his travels at $180,000 per hour while the White House continues to be closed to tours because of  his sequester:

Perhaps it is nothing more than an accident of timing that as federal workers brace for a summer filled with unpaid furlough days, their leaders are traveling the nation and globe on trips that exude luxury.

On Wednesday, President Obama left the White House for two Chicago fund-raisers in the hope of helping Democrats retake the House in next year’s elections. The cost of flying aboard Air Force One to his hometown: $180,000 per hour.

President Obama seems to be the least affected out of anyone:

Almost by definition, Mr. Obama lives a life foreign to most Americans, with the big white house and the ushers and chefs and the airplane fueled and ready to go. When he wants a weekend away, he can fly to Florida to golf with Tiger Woods. When his daughters take spring break, they head to Aspen to ski. He winters in Hawaii and summers on Martha’s Vineyard.

 

But this summer’s trips come as federal employees are tightening their belts. Last Friday, four federal agencies closed down — the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and even the Office of Management and Budget — as employees were ordered to take the first of several unpaid days off.

 

Many workers are canceling summer vacations of their own. Across the government, cutbacks are everywhere. The Blue Angels did not fly at the Naval Academy commencement, Head Start programs are turning away children, and there are no summer jobs for college students to cut the grass at Antietam.

 

It’s clear that President Obama’s main focus is helping Nancy Pelosi back into power rather than governing. That won’t happen on our watch. Click the tweet below to join us: