Biden stays out of public spotlight as shutdown negotiations spiral and deadline looms

By MJ Lee, Arlette Saenz, Sarah Ferris, Michael Williams and Kayla Tausche, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden is choosing to stay out of the public spotlight in what could emerge one of the final domestic crises of his presidency, as the White House and Democrats in Washington are portraying a looming government shutdown as a problem for Republicans to resolve on their own.

The funding crisis escalated on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump issued a missive that sharply criticized a funding deal that he viewed as too favorable toward Democratic priorities. The deal, which was negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have kept the government funded until March. Trump’s undermining of the deal calls into question the president-elect’s support for Johnson in a speaker’s race in the New Year.

As the likelihood of a shutdown intensified on Thursday, Hill Democrats and the White House sought to amplify the real-world impact such a scenario would have on tens of millions of Americans — and not just those government workers who risk missing a paycheck. A key goal for Democrats, sources said, is to demonstrate how much individual states would lose on important things like disaster relief if a funding plan were to fall through.

White House officials declined to say what role, if any, Biden himself was personally playing this week to try to remedy the situation, but he had no public events on his public schedule on Thursday as he prepared to return from Wilmington to the White House. The crisis is, at this point, an intra-party fight between congressional Republicans and Trump and his inner circle. It’s also not clear what kind of public pressure Biden could muster toward Republicans given that he, like Congress, is deeply unpopular — his approval rating sits at 37%, according to CNN’s Poll of Polls.

The White House has been happy to let the Republicans in Congress fight it out.

“It’s in the Hill’s hands,” a senior White House official told CNN when asked about the possibility that a deal brokered by Johnson could collapse in the face of opposition from Republican members and Trump’s inner circle.

Last Friday, the Biden administration made initial contact with government agencies about contingency planning for a potential shutdown, an OMB official tells CNN; such communication is customary one week before funding is set to lapse, even if an appropriations agreement appears imminent.

Since then, the White House has remained quiet on its outlook for a potential deal, instead opting to “leave it up to congressional leaders to decide how to accomplish that,” an OMB official said.

But many Democrats want the White House to take a more active role in amplifying and foreshadowing the reverberating consequences of a shutdown — including the closure of the National Mall and parks and delayed or canceled flights, should TSA officers call out sick during a busy holiday travel season.

Both Trump and his billionaire supporter Elon Musk have also suggested that Republicans who don’t support Trump’s view for the deal should be primaried, and Trump told ABC News that he believes Biden will be ultimately be blamed for allowing the shutdown to happen — even though Hill Republicans are backtracking on the deal because of his criticism of the agreement.

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a statement Wednesday. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.”

White House officials and Hill Democrats have been in close contact over the looming shutdown to stay in step on messaging, multiple sources told CNN.

“President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that — while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on.”

But Republicans, including some of Trump’s closest allies, have indicated that they have no problem shutting down the government until Trump takes office on January 20 — using delaying tactics to pin the fault of the shutdown on the already unpopular incumbent president.

“Right now, I’m just in the position of just shut it down for 30 days until Trump is president,” Trump ally Rep. Nancy Mace Thursday said after being asked by CNN if she wants to see the debt limit lifted as part of a new funding deal.

She added: “I’m deeply frustrated by both parties that got us into this situation. … If you were to eliminate all discretionary spending the country would still be running a deficit, which is the problem here.”

The deadline for a new deal to be reached that avoids a shutdown is Friday.

Biden on Thursday also announced he would give federal workers an extra day off on Christmas Eve — the first time during his presidency he has exercised his authority to grant the additional holiday.

CNN’s Clare Foran contributed.

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