For the fourth weekend in a row, Vice President Mike Pence boarded Air Force Two to sell the nascent administration’s agenda, this time speaking to business leaders at Dynalab Inc., a small manufacturing company in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, on Saturday.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, will remain in Washington for the weekend, with no public events scheduled.
This has become a bit of a pattern in the Trump White House.
Last weekend, the President visited Trump National Golf Club in Virginia two days in a row while Pence discussed small business in West Virginia on Saturday and addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Sunday. Linda McMahon, head of Trump’s Small Business Administration, joined the vice president last Saturday.
The President held meetings at the golf course, the White House said, declining to say with whom.
On Saturday, Pence stuck closely to the same message he had the weekend before, selling the “jobs jobs jobs” agenda of the President and touting an announcement by Ford Motor Co. earlier this week that the company will invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities.
Pence also told the crowd that on the GOP effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, it “ain’t over yet.”
The vice president once again lauded the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court as Republicans rally to secure support in the Senate before his confirmation vote next week.
Two weekends ago, Pence was in Jacksonville, Florida, selling the now-defunct GOP health care proposal with the pitch that the Obamacare replacement would allow states to impose a work requirement for able-bodied Medicaid recipients.
Meanwhile, Trump golfed in Palm Beach.
Pence also took a trip March 11 to sell the administration’s plans, visiting Louisville, Kentucky, while Trump remained at the White House.
Lindsay Walters, a White House spokeswoman, said that the President and vice president are a team and pointed to a February rally the President held in Florida and his hosting of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Mar-a-Lago, also that month.
“The President is constantly working — holding meetings and having calls even when there are no public events on the schedule,” Walters told CNN.
The President also gave two speeches at a pair of recent events paid for by his campaign, in Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Pence is the consummate “foot soldier” for the President, a person close to the vice president told CNN. Pence and his team knew they were signing up for the No. 2 slot when they joined the ticket, well aware of the work that would be in their job descriptions, the source added.
After the health care bill imploded last week, the former Indiana governor and congressman was “frustrated” and “disappointed,” but he’s focusing on the administration’s pivot to other items on its agenda this week, the source said.
“The vice president is focused on jobs, regulations and tax reform now,” Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said, adding that the vice president is “continuing to work on the President’s agenda.”
Pence speaks glowingly of his boss, praising the President’s work so far in the White House. Sitting around a U-shaped table in West Virginia, Pence said: “I truly believe that President Trump is the best friend that small businesses will ever have.”
