WASHINGTON\u2014If you\u2019re looking for Bernie Sanders, you won\u2019t find him here.<\/p>\n
Vermont\u2019s socialist senator was spotted<\/a> in first class on a 2:49 p.m. flight out of Reagan National Airport Friday afternoon \u2014 minutes after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) vowed to reject the partial Department of Homeland Security funding bill Sanders and his colleagues in the upper chamber had passed around 2:00 a.m.<\/p>\n About an hour after Sanders\u2019s flight took off, President Donald Trump entered the fray on Johnson\u2019s side, saying<\/a> the Senate bill \u2014 which carved ICE and Border Patrol out of DHS funding \u2014 \u201cwasn\u2019t appropriate.\u201d Emboldened by the president, the House late Friday night rejected the Senate\u2019s bill, instead passing a separate measure that would fund the entire Department of Homeland Security for 60 days.<\/p>\n What happens next is unclear, as Sanders wasn\u2019t the only senator to skip town after the final vote. The Senate adjourned Friday for a two-week recess, and has no plans to reconvene before its planned April 13 return. As of Saturday morning, the partial shutdown of DHS has become the longest funding lapse in American history, surpassing 2025\u2019s record-breaking government shutdown.<\/p>\n Sanders\u2019s first-class escape makes him the latest lawmaker to be dinged for aerial hypocrisy amid the ongoing shutdown. As Americans waited up to four hours in TSA lines, members of Congress were often able to skip the lines entirely, making use of a perk exclusive to lawmakers. Delta Air Lines earned praise for suspending its special \u201ccongressional desk,\u201d but as The Daily Wire reported<\/a>, lawmakers were still able to skip the security lines.<\/p>\n About 20 minutes before his flight departed, Sanders took to X<\/a> to slam Elon Musk and \u201cthe wealthiest people in the world\u201d for their views on AI. The senator is often criticized for railing against the wealthy, considering he himself is a millionaire<\/a> who owns three homes.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Sanders will attend a \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in St. Paul, Minnesota \u2014 an event organized to protest Trump, an elected official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n