
The president’s Twitter burst came on a morning when Mr. Trump had planned to be in Palm Beach, Fla., at his Mar-a-Lago estate, most likely marking his anniversary in office, preparing for a round of golf and awaiting a fund-raising soiree that guests had paid at least $100,000 per couple to attend. Instead, Mr. Trump started Saturday at the White House, with a blank schedule that contained no indication that he was headed south to warmer temperatures or celebratory events.
Traveling to the Middle East, Vice President Mike Pence sought to reassure American service members that the shutdown would be resolved, telling them, “We’ll get this thing figured out in Washington.” But he told reporters traveling with him, “It’s going to take as long as it takes.”
While the administration has argued that it is doing more than Barack Obama’s did in 2013 to soften the impact of a shutdown, Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence both emphasized that active-duty military personnel would be serving without pay until the government resumes its normal functions.
“These soldiers deserve better,” Mr. Pence said at Shannon Airport in Ireland, where Air Force Two was refueling as the vice president made his way to Cairo for the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East.
“You have troops headed down range to Kuwait for six months, and they are anxious about the fact that they aren’t going to get paid right away,” he added, calling the situation “unconscionable.”
“It’s disappointing to every American that Democrats in the Senate would shut down the government when we have troops in harm’s way,” Mr. Pence said.
Democrats tried early Saturday to win passage of emergency legislation to ensure that military personnel received pay during the shutdown, but Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, objected. He said he wanted to reach an agreement to fund the entire government “before this becomes necessary.”
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