George W. Bush delivers pizzas to Secret Service detail, makes rare political statement
George W. Bush played pizza delivery man for a day as he handed out several boxes of pies to his Secret Service detail -- currently working without pay during the partial government shutdown.
The 43rd president of the United States also made a political statement, an unusual occurrence in his time since stepping away from the office at the same time.
Bush, along with first lady Laura, thanked the Secret Service personnel in an Instagram post Friday afternoon. He's seen carrying three pizzas, with another three boxes on the way, for the unpaid personal protectors of the former president.
"@LauraWBush and I are grateful to our Secret Service personnel and the thousands of Federal employees who are working hard for our country without a paycheck," he wrote.
He also added a rare, if tepid, political statement to the post, saying, "It's time for leaders on both sides to put politics aside, come together, and end this shutdown."
Exactly how Bush wants the shutdown showdown to be solved remains a mystery. There is no love lost between No. 43 and the current president, despite being fellow Republicans.
Bush, who lives in the border wall battleground state of Texas, signed the Secure Fence Act into law in October 2006, and called it "an important step toward immigration reform." The law paved the way for hundreds of miles in border fencing and doubled the funding for border security -- but Bush has been mum on Trump's push for a border wall.
As the shutdown enters its 29th day on Saturday, Secret Service personnel are among the hundreds of thousands who aren't being paid.
Don Mihalek, the Secret Service representative to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, confirmed to ABC News that cash advances are not being given out and official credit cards are not being paid for through government invoice channels.
"The way that works is FBI agents have an FBI credit card but they have to pay the bill," FBI Agents Association spokesperson Paul Nathanson told ABC News. "These agents have to buy tickets to go overseas and they can't get reimbursed for that money. So not only are they not getting paid, they're putting out money for their jobs and not getting it back until the government opens."
All former presidents have lifetime Secret Service details thanks to a law signed by President Barack Obama in January 2013. It had been rescinded to just 10 years post-office in 1997.
ABC News' Luke Barr and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
