Sanford Denounces Political Gamesmanship

Statement

Today, Representative Mark Sanford (SC-1) called on President Obama to end the politically motivated, unwarranted closures of open air, unstaffed federal monuments that are intended to inconvenience the public to the greatest extent possible.

"Yesterday and this morning I took to the floor of the House to denounce the closing of the Lincoln Memorial -- an open air monument that has never before been closed to the public in the history of our Republic. It wasn't closed in any of the last 17 government shutdowns over the last 35 years, but fits with the pattern of President Obama using public inconvenience as a way of scoring political points. At the time of the debate on the sequester the President said they would have to discontinue public tours at the White House. This along with being a national first, is still in effect though their office can somehow afford to spend $250,000 on calligraphers. It's become clear to me that the Obama Administration is actually spending money to close these monuments -- having to reassign staff, renting barricades and the like," said Sanford.

"Now I learn that the Buck Hall boat landing, an unstaffed facility located on federal land in Charleston County has been unexpectedly closed to the public by the US Forest Service. In fact, the Forest Service didn't even reach out to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to attempt to keep the facility open, they simply shuttered it. These closings, taken together, clearly show the Obama administration's political motivation to inconvenience the greatest number of people possible as a way of gaining political advantage."

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