Old Post Office tower on Trump property to remain open during shutdown

The Old Post Office tower, which shares facilities with the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., will remain open during the partial government shutdown.

The General Services Administration (GSA), an independent government agency that owns the facility, is providing the funding to keep the tower open.

{mosads}“The referenced facility remains open as the funds needed to operate the Old Post Office tower are not associated with the current fiscal year’s (FY 2019) appropriations bill. The overall operation of the tower was a part of the government’s lease signed in August 2013, and in response to the ‘Old Post Office Building Redevelopment Act of 2008,’” a GSA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday.

The statement came in response to a request for comment on a report from E&E News that said the tower would be reopening and left it unclear how the funding to reopen the tower was procured.

The GSA signed a deal with the Trump organization in 2013 to build the hotel and maintain public access to the 270-foot observation tower. The lease for the tower mandates that the Trump Organization is responsible for the entire Old Post Office site.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) denounced the Trump administration on Twitter, accusing it of improperly using tax dollars to benefit the president’s business.

“The Trump admin is using your tax dollars to keep an @NPS site at his luxury hotel open while the rest of Americans are wading through garbage and locked gates. The corruption and disgrace of this govt are without bottom,” he tweeted Wednesday.

Several agencies of the federal government have been shut down since Dec. 22, including the departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce, Justice, Interior and State, among others.

Updated at 10:13 a.m. Jan. 3.