Washington, Jan 22 (AP) The White House said today thatCabinet members are delaying their departure for this year'sWorld Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland amid thefederal government shutdown.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they willdetermine what to do "as the day goes on and as we see how thenext couple of hours go."Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin is leading adelegation of Cabinet members and top aides to the glitzysummit in the Swiss Alps. He was scheduled to leave today,with President Donald Trump following later in the week.
Trump planned to bring his "America First" message to theconference, a gathering of global political and businesselites which has rarely been attended by recent sittingpresidents.
Asked if Trump would attend if the government is stillshutdown, Sanders said: "I don't know that that's very likely.
I wouldn't imagine it is. Our priority is making sure that thegovernment reopened and we start having the conversations thatneed to take place over the next couple of weeks."One member of the delegation, FDA Commissioner ScottGottlieb, stressed on Twitter Monday that he was nottraveling. He said on Twitter: "I'm in White Oak, MD today at#FDA headquarters. I did not travel to Davos today aspreviously planned."Secretary of State Rex Tillerson won't travel to Davos ifthe government is still shut down, said Undersecretary ofState Steve Goldstein, adding that the decision would likelybe made Wednesday. In that case, Tillerson, who is travelingin Europe, would return to Washington, meaning he would alsocancel a planned post-Davos stop in Warsaw, Poland.
White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short saidon Fox Business Network today of attending Davos that"logistically it becomes more and more difficult if thegovernment is shut down"He added that "if this continues to drag on it willbecome more difficult to find more ways for the president toget there too." (AP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.