Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Palm Springs, California, on Friday for a family matter, a White House official said on Monday.
Details of the trip were scarce. Harris arrived at Palm Springs International Airport shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday, departing the next day. The vice president was not accompanied by a press pool, and her schedule had no public events. No reason for the trip was provided.
“It was a private family matter,” the official told the Washington Examiner on Monday.
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The cross-country excursion drew headlines as President Joe Biden and Democrats in Washington wrangled over proposals to boost government spending on infrastructure and social welfare initiatives.
“This trip to California is confusing to some Biden allies, who are wondering why the VP who was a Senator is not more involved in helping the administration’s domestic agenda gain the support it needs in the Senate,” a reporter for the New York Times tweeted on Monday.
Biden’s agenda hangs in the balance as lawmakers struggle to reconcile their positions over the president’s sweeping $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.
Harris served in the Senate before becoming vice president and now holds the tiebreaking vote in the 50-50 chamber.
Palm Springs Mayor Christy Gilbert Holstege welcomed Harris to the area on Twitter, but local Democrats said they did not expect to meet with the vice president, who is a California native, former attorney general, and U.S. senator.
Elle Kurpiewski, political director of the Democratic Headquarters of the Desert, told the Palm Springs Desert News she did not know anyone who had been briefed on the vice president’s visit to the area.
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Harris previously visited the state last month to campaign for Gov. Gavin Newsom during a gubernatorial recall election.
