Engel Writes to President Urging Reopening of White House Tours

   Congressman Eliot Engel, a leading member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, authored a letter to President Trump signed by over 3 dozen of his House colleagues, urging the President to reopen the White House Visitors Office and resume giving tours.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that the White House is refusing to offer tours to the public. Millions of visitors come to the White House each year, including hundreds from my district. We’re now into our fourth week of President Trump’s administration and Congressional offices still have not been given any indication of when the White House will reopen to visitors,” Congressman Engel said. “I sincerely hope that the President ensures the White House resumes tours as soon as possible. ”

Text of the letter can be found below:

Dear President Trump,

We are writing to express our support for the swift reopening of the White House Visitors Office and the resumption of White House tours.

This time-honored tradition of allowing visitors into the White House was started by Thomas Jefferson in 1805, and previous administrations have been quick to reopen the White House doors to the public, even doing so the day after the Inauguration. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all appointed a White House Visitors Office Director prior to being sworn in, and had reopened the White House to the public at this point.

Nearly 3 million visitors tour the White House each year. As their representatives in Washington, we take pride in assisting our constituents with access to the White House, the Capitol Building and other sites in our nation’s capital. Many of our constituents have already contacted us requesting to visit the White House, and thus far we have not been able to give them any information about when the tours will resume.

While we are pleased that the First Lady’s Chief of Staff, Lindsay Reynolds, has said she is working to ensure that the White House Visitors Office is fully staffed, we urge you to ensure a White House Visitors Office Director is appointed and tours resume as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Eliot L. Engel                           Grace Napolitano

Jerrold Nadler                        Joseph P. Kennedy III

Albio Sires                                Brenda L. Lawrence

Stephanie Murphy               Chellie Pingree

Dwight Evans                          Marcy Kaptur

Luis V. Gutiérrez                    Richard M. Nolan      

Gerald E. Connolly                Ted W. Lieu

Suzanne Bonamici                 Mark Pocan

Steve Cohen                            Bonnie Watson Coleman       

Gwen S. Moore                      Jared Huffman

Jamie Raskin                            Dina Titus

James P. McGovern             Donald S. Beyer Jr.

Mike Thompson                     Seth Moulton

Collin C. Peterson                  Scott Peters

Barbara Lee                              Louise M. Slaughter

Mark Takano                            Ami Bera, M.D.

Gregory W. Meeks                Raúl M. Grijalva

Brendan F. Boyle                    Nita M. Lowey

Doris Matsui                             Julia Brownley

Earl Blumenauer                     Joe Courtney

Eleanor Holmes Norton       Jackie Speier

Elizabeth H. Esty