TMZ tracks US lawmakers vacationing amid the partial government shutdown

Tabloid outlet has covered Republicans and Democrats relaxing at places such as Disney World as shutdown drags on When US federal workers were missing paychecks and the partial government shutdown entered its seventh week, Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, was doing what any responsible lawmaker would do: riding Space Mountain and carrying a bubble wand at Disney World in Florida. Naturally, TMZ had photos of the vacationing senator on its homepage a few days later. The celebrity tabloid empire – better known for staking out actors and artists outside restaurants, gas stations, courthouses and their palatial estates – has turned its paparazzi prowess on a new and maybe equally chaotic subject: the US Congress. And America’s lawmakers may find themselves uniquely ill-equipped for the Hollywood experience. The outlet last week put out a public call for tips on lawmaker sightings as the partial government shutdown dragged on, leaving thousands of Department of Homeland Security employees without pay. Graham’s Disney World excursion earned him the headline: “Living in Fantasyland as Government Shutdown Drags On.” The Senate majority leader, John Thune; the Senat