WASHINGTON — White House officials are in close touch with Democratic leaders in Congress — Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer — and are coordinating strategy with them as Democrats aim to highlight how a holiday shutdown would hurt the economy and block disaster relief, according to sources familiar with discussions.
President Joe Biden has not spoken publicly about the looming shutdown. At this point, White House officials believe this is a problem for House Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump to solve after he encouraged his party to sink a bipartisan deal that had already been hammered out.
The White House will have to ultimately sign any bill that can pass.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Thursday that Biden “supports the bipartisan agreement to keep the government open, help communities recovering from disasters, and lower costs—not this giveaway for billionaires that Republicans are proposing at the 11th hour.”
Biden did not answer shouted questions about a possible government shutdown when he arrived back at the White House on Thursday night.
Asked about Trump’s role in killing the deal, Republicans pointed to Biden.
“Where is the 46th President right now? What is he saying about this?” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said of Biden. “I have not heard him weigh in one ounce over the last month.”
Late Wednesday night, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement blasting the GOP.
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” she wrote. “A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word.”
In the White House’s view, Trump essentially ordered Republicans to shut down the government.
A former Biden campaign official slammed Trump for seeming to listen to Elon Musk — a private citizen — who has inserted himself into the process.
“Trump seems like he needs to act on his dad’s wishes,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is preparing for a possible shutdown. An official with the White House Office of Management and Budget said that OMB has been working with agencies since last Friday to review relevant legal requirements to make sure their plans for an orderly shutdown are up to date.
Starting at 10 a.m. Thursday, agencies sent an email to employees about the status of funding, the OMB official said.
