Clinton Won’t Let Crisis Dim Tree Lights

President Clinton will pay out of his own pocket the electricity bill to keep the Christmas tree lit during another partial government shutdown, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said.

Without a temporary spending bill, the National Park Service loses its funding as of midnight Friday, and the lights of the tree would go dark.

White House officials could only wince at the prospect of headlines trumpeting the darkening of the national Christmas tree as a symbol of the budget crisis. So McCurry announced that Clinton, who makes $200,000 a year, would pay the cost personally.

“There apparently was a serious discussion about turning the lights off. . . . The president gave [Budget Director Alice] Rivlin an order that they were to keep the lights on on the tree and he is to receive the bill for the electricity,” McCurry said.