No more golf for Obama is Republican wish as budget talks turn to farce

A Republican Congressman is aiming to prevent President Barack Obama from enjoying any more trips to the golf course, as the fight over spending cuts in Washington descended into farce.

Earlier, the Obama administration had claimed the "sequester", a series of cuts that will slash $85 billion from this year's budget, had forced it to cancel visitor tours to the White House.

Republicans believe the move was a politically-motivated stunt designed to pressure members of Congress, who organise the tours for their constituents, into calling off the spending cuts.

"The President is trying to make it tough on members of Congress," said John Boehner, the Republican leader in Congress. "It's just sick." Louie Gohmert, a conservative from Texas, took his opposition a step further with legislation that would prevent any public funds from being used "to transport the President to or from a golf course until public tours of the White House resume".

Obama's passion for golf is well known. Last month he cloistered himself in a luxury Florida hotel to play with Tiger Woods.

Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, Gohmert said that money saved from cancelling Obama's golf outings could restore the tours. "We will be able to get the Democrats and the Republicans across America...to get their tour of the White House and all it will cost is one or two golf trips less," he said.

The amendment has little chance of making it into law. White House aides said the tours were being cancelled due to cuts to the Secret Service, whose reduced force did not have the manpower to monitor tour groups.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, have often surprised tourists on their way around the executive mansion, offering hugs and fist bumps and sometimes bringing their dog, Bo.

The President was last night expected to begin a new charm offensive with his Republican opponents, inviting a dozen senators to dinner at a Washington hotel.

Next week, he will make a rare visit to Congress where he will address members of both parties and urge them to roll back the spending cuts, which cut the federal government's budget by $1.2?trillion over the next decade.