White House: Easter egg roll still on despite sequester cuts

The White House is moving forward with the White House Easter Egg Roll, despite closing its doors to all public tours because of the sequester spending cuts.

The White House Easter Egg Roll, a day full of games and food on the South Lawn for children and families, is a 135-year tradition. It will take place this year on April 1 and 35,000 people are expected to attend.

SEE RELATED: More sequester pain: White House cancels tours

The event is undoubtedly a major expense for the Secret Service, which must plan for such a big crowd at the White House and protect them throughout the day.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have “made extraordinary efforts to make [the White House] the people’s house,”during their time here “and it is extremely unfortunate that we have a situation like the sequester that compels the kinds of trade-offs and decisions this represents.”

Mr. Carney said that the Secret Service, “like other agencies of government, is affected by the sequester, and the Secret Service presented options that ranged from canceling tours to potential furloughs and cuts in overtime.”

“In order to allow the Secret Service to best fulfill its core mission, the White House made the decision that we would unfortunately have to temporarily suspend these tours.”

So why is the Easter Egg roll still a go?

“The White House must make choices,” Mr. Carney said, referring more specific questions to the Secret Service.

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