NEAR THE SYRIAN BORDER — Vice President Mike Pence, weighing in from the Middle East on the shutdown in Washington, accused Congress of playing politics with military pay, and told American soldiers stationed near the Syrian border that the Trump administration will demand that lawmakers reopen the government.
Pence said they deserved their pay and benefits and service members and their families ‘‘shouldn’t have to worry about getting paid.’’
‘‘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 US flag and a line of soldiers dressed in military fatigues. ‘‘But you deserve better.’’
Landing aboard a C-17 military aircraft, Pence visited the undisclosed military base after his meetings in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Journalists covering the vice president were asked to withhold the name and location of the base, and the number of troops stationed here, because of security and diplomatic concerns.
The vice president spoke as Democrats and Republicans in Congress showed little progress on negotiations to end the government shutdown in a feud over immigration and spending.
While Pence did not identify the culprits by party affiliation, Republicans argue that Democrats are blocking additional funding for the Pentagon by keeping the government closed.
During a government shutdown, all military members are required to report for work as usual. Troops cannot be paid for duty performed after the shutdown began Saturday, but their paychecks will be delayed only if the government closure lasts beyond Feb. 1. That’s because pay is issued only twice a month, on the first and the 15th.
On Sunday, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney also complained about the shutdown’s potential impact on the military but acknowledged that troops were all but certain to get their pay.
‘‘Traditionally every single time there’s a shutdown, Congress has voted to go and pay them retroactively and we support that,’’ Mulvaney said on CBS’s ‘‘Face the Nation.’’
Pence said the Trump administration would ‘‘demand that they reopen the government’’ and will not reopen negotiations ‘‘on illegal immigration’’ until Congress reopens the government.
‘‘We’re going to get this fixed. We’re going to meet our obligations to you and your families,’’ Pence said.
The 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, which is stationed at the base on the Syrian border, has dropped nearly half of the munitions during the operation to destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Government funds ran out at midnight Friday, leaving 48 hours before the most dramatic effect — the furloughing of nearly a million federal employees — goes into effect.
As in shutdowns past, federal services were carved into two categories — essential and nonessential — with the former set to carry on as normal. In that category, the mail will be delivered and Social Security checks still go out, the air traffic control system stays up and running, as do the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and veterans hospitals.
At the Internal Revenue Service, more than half of the 80,565 employees will be barred from working just as tax filing season is beginning and the agency is dealing with the sweeping changes made by the new GOP tax law.
Symbols of American promise turned into emblems of American dysfunction because of the shutdown.
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island turned away visitors in New York because of what the National Park Service described as ‘‘a lapse in appropriations.’’ But New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said the state will spend $65,000 a day beginning Monday to open the two federal sites to visitors.
In Philadelphia, crowds of tourists have been told that Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, and the Liberty Bell are closed.
