Santa might be flying, but President Donald Trump won't — if the government shuts down.
Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday morning that the president will not leave Washington, D.C., if Congress does not pass a temporary spending bill that Trump would sign to keep the government operating.
That vow, if held to, could put a big crimp in Trump's holiday plans.
The president has been expected to spend 16 days at his luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
A Federal Aviation Administration memo issued earlier this month bars planes from flying over West Palm Beach, Fla., from Friday through Jan. 6. Such a ban is typically issued to coincide with Trump's travel to the resort.
However, there was no mention of the president's plans to travel on his published scheduled Friday.
During an appearance on Fox News's "Fox & Friends," co-host Steve Doocy said to Sanders, "The big question is will the president still be going to Mar-a-Lago for his two week Christmas vacation even if there is a government shutdown which he says 'I'm okay with.' "
Sanders said, "If there is a government shutdown, the president will stay here in Washington, D.C."
"But, again, we are hopeful that people will step up and do their jobs today and get that done," Sanders added.
The House on Thursday passed a temporary spending bill to keep the government open. That bill included more than $5 billion for Trump's top item on his Christmas wish list: a wall on the United States's border with Mexico. He has also taken to calling for building that "wall" with "steel slats" rather than concrete.
But that bill almost certainly will fail in the Senate because of the inclusion of that wall funding. The Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill — without border wall money — that would keep the government running through Feb. 8.
To pass the House's version of the bill in the Senate, Trump would need to have nine Democrats vote with every Republican to get the 60 votes needed. But it is by no means certain that he could even get all 51 Republicans to vote for the bill.
Not one Democrat in the House voted for that chamber's version of the spending bill.
Funding for the seven agencies that would be affected by the shutdown runs out after midnight Friday.
from Top News & Analysis https://cnb.cx/2T1LUOv
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