Shutdown hits Philadelphia attractions

Sara Keller traveled all the way from England to Philadelphia to learn firsthand how Americans kicked some British butt during the Revolution. It was not to be.

“Sorry, love, I know you wanted to see how we beat you,” Keller’s American husband, Donald, told her as they peered through a window at the Liberty Bell while standing outside in the cold on Saturday morning.

“It’s really annoying,” said Sara Keller, 35, her voice laced with a British accent.

“I was just messing around, but I really wanted to show her how we gained our independence from the Brits so to speak,” said Donald Keller, 34.

The Kellers, who live in London, were among dozens of disappointed tourists who found the sites closed because of the partial government shutdown. The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are run by the National Park Service, which relies on federal funds to operate. The National Constitution Center, however, remained open Saturday because it is a private, nonprofit that does not rely on federal money. The Museum of the American Revolution, at Third and Chestnut Streets, was also open.

The federal shutdown began at 12:01 a.m. By midafternoon Saturday, an informal line of people waiting to squeeze into a cubby-like space for the best view of the Liberty Bell from the outside through a window grew dozens deep.

Amy Deleon, a tourist from New Paltz, N.Y. who came to Philadelphia with her family, said she was bummed about not being able to see the city’s most iconic historic sites, but mostly she was worried about people who rely on the federal government for a paycheck and won’t see one as their bills roll in over the Christmas holiday and possibly beyond.

“It’s the holidays and it’s already hard times on people to begin with,” Deleon said as she stood in front of Independence Hall with her husband, Joe, and their 5-year-old son, Beni.

As some visitors shook their heads at Independence Hall, a video posted on Twitter by newly elected U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat from Delaware County’s Fifth Congressional District, went viral, with more than 40,000 retweets and 104,000 likes by noon Saturday.

“I have a bunch of ideas for how to spend $5 BILLION and a wall ain’t one,” she tweeted on Friday afternoon as a shutdown seemed all but certain. In the video, Scanlon stands in front of the White House and ticks off a list of things the money could be spent on.

“$5 billion dollars would cover the cost of repairing Puerto Rico’s power grid,” she says. “$5 billion dollars would cover medically assisted opioid addiction treatment for over three quarters of a million people”