Vice President Mike Pence, weighing in from the Middle East on the shutdown in Washington, accused the U.S. Congress of playing politics with military pay, and told American soldiers stationed near the Syrian border that the Trump administration would demand that lawmakers reopen the government. "Despite bipartisan support for a budget resolution, a minority in the Senate has decided to play politics with military pay," Pence said at the base, speaking in front of a large U.S. flag and a line of soldiers dressed in military fatigues. "Traditionally every single time there's a shutdown, Congress has voted to go and pay them retroactively and we support that," Mulvaney told CBS' "Face the Nation." Pence said the Trump administration would not reopen negotiations "on illegal immigration" until Congress reopens the government. Landing aboard a C-17 military aircraft, Pence visited an undisclosed military base in the Middle East following his meetings in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Source: ABC News January 21, 2018 15:26 UTC