Vice President JD Vance has emerged as President Donald Trump’s lead attack dog on the government shutdown as some Democrats lambaste what they see as a lack of White House leadership.
Vance, a former Ohio senator, helped Republicans negotiate a tax and spending bill among themselves earlier this year, but he has stepped into the federal funding fracas with no track record of helping strike bipartisan deals.
Still, Vance on Wednesday vowed to lead a pressure campaign against some of his former Senate colleagues designed to wear down vulnerable and moderate Democratic senators until they vote with Republicans on a House-passed measure that would reopen the government and fund it until Nov. 21.
