The popular White House tours that were suspended by the budget cuts brought on by sequestration continue into the season of increased tours to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ramps up.

The tours were suspended earlier this month after Congress failed to agree on alternate ways to curtail rising budget deficits.

It is the Secret Sevice, who, besides being in charge of security of the president, are involved in the tours, that make the decision as to the White House sightseeing groups. After weighing their options, which included pay cuts, cuts to overtime or fuloughs, the agency chose to bring the popular White House trips to a close.

Various Republicans have voiced that the cancellation of the popular tours were administration spin pushing the president’s position in the talks. But the President denied this and told ABC, “I’m always amused when people on the one hand say ‘The sequester doesn’t mean anything and the administration’s exaggerating its effects,’ and then whatever the specific effects are, they yell and scream and say, ‘Why are you doin’ that?”’

The president continued, saying that lawmakers need to come up with a sensible budget rather than chopping arbitrarily across the board. “There are consequences to Congress not having come up with a more sensible way to reduce the deficit,” he said.

The president is looking for ways to re-start the tours at least for groups such as students, who travel to the capital during the spring.

President Obama said in an interview airing on Wednesday, “What I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups, you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales. Can we make sure that kids… can still come to tour?”

The suspension of the tours saves the government $74,000 a week.