Washington, May 14 (PTI) Holding fort at the White House, Vice President J D Vance likened his experience to Macaulay Culkin in the 1990 film Home Alone.
The US Secret Service protocols do not allow the president and the vice president to travel abroad together to protect the line of succession.
President Donald Trump is on an official visit to China and returns on Saturday.
“As you know, the president just landed in China a few hours ago. You may know that because of Secret Service protocols, I don’t travel outside of the country with the president of the United States,” Vance told reporters here on Wednesday.
“So on days like today, I sometimes feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I walk into the White House, and it’s very quiet, and no one’s there, and it takes me a second to realise exactly what’s going on,” the vice president said, drawing laughter from the roomful of reporters.
Vance, who heads the Anti-Fraud Taskforce, threatened to “turn off” federal funding for government health insurance programs in states that refuse to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on suspected fraud.
Directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone chronicles the adventures of an eight-year-old Kevin in defending his home from a pair of burglars, after being accidentally left behind by his family from a Christmas vacation abroad.