Vice President of the US Mike Pence is keeping to his plans to travel to the Middle East despite the federal government shutdown. He was ready to cast the tie-breaking vote when the Republican push to abolish the Affordable Care Act collapsed in July. He was also there presiding in December when the Senate voted 51-48 to pass the bill that led to a massive package of tax cuts, marking the President’s first major domestic win. However, this time around, as President Donald Trump faces his first ever major legislative crisis, Pence is not here to see him through it.
On Friday night, the vice president left Washington for a trip to the Middle East. This was just hours before the government shut down as a result of the stalemate between the Republicans and Democrats over extending protection to undocumented immigrants who came into the United States as children. On Saturday, as President Trump worked on the ongoing crisis at the White House, Vice President Mike Pence was being welcomed to Egypt by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. This kicked off a trip that will include stops in Israel and Jordan.
Pence’s absence from the White House seems calculated to some. Mary Matalin who was a former counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney said that Pence is always in the right place at the right time, discreet, dedicated and freakishly absent from tumultuous ones. Despite the chaotic shutdown in Washington, Pence insisted on keeping his overseas engagements after he had moved the trip once before to accommodate the tax vote conducted just before Christmas. White House officials said that the visit was billed as a national security exercise to evade any shutdown disruption.
Pence has demonstrated a skill for avoiding some of the government’s most controversial defining moments. For instance, he was in Nevada when Trump held a meeting in which he described countries in Africa as “shitholes” – an event that led up to the government shutdown. Pence being absent from the Capitol during this crucial time in the United States goes heavily noticed. He is one of the White House’s most trusted figures of the on the Hill. Pence’s office, as well as the White House, would not comment about his absence at the White House or how it might impact the negotiations to revive the federal government.
