Hopefully you got all your petitions in by now, because the government isn’t listening until 2018.
The White House “We The People” website is “currently down for maintenance,” the site announced on Monday, and won’t be coming back until “late January.” And compounding matters, you’re not able to look at current appeals in the meantime, such as the record-setting 1 million signatures for President Trump to release his tax returns.
“All existing petitions and associated signatures have been preserved and will be available when the site is relaunched,” said the site’s homepage. “Following the site’s relaunch, petitions that have reached the required number of signatures will begin receiving responses.”
Launched in 2011 under the Obama administration, the page has been an outlet for both comical and more weighty matters. A petition on ending gay “conversion therapy,” after a teenager left a suicide note about the agony she felt over religious therapists attempting to convert her, had more than 100,000 signatures.
The Obama White House responded to the petition, supporting the “banning” of conversion therapy. “The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm,” read the response.
Other petitions were simply farcical, like the call for the U.S. government to build a “Star Wars” influenced “Death Star.” Technology adviser Paul Shawcross shut down the fanboy dream in 2013, however, when he explained the $850 quadrillion needed to build the evil space station wasn’t feasible. “The administration does not support blowing up planets,” added Shawcross.
If you were planning on petitioning President Trump drinking water with two hands, you’ll have to wait until next year.