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The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Friday promised that its Santa Tracker would continue as scheduled this year, even if the rest of the federal government shuts down ahead of Christmas.

NORAD, which is a U.S.-Canadian agency, has been tracking the mysterious figure since the 1950s, when a child mistakenly called the agency instead of a Sears line that promised to connect children to Santa Claus, per the Associated Press.

The agency said it would continue to field the more than 130,000 calls it gets from children every year even during a shutdown. Millions of more children follow Santa’s activities on Christmas Eve online.

“We fully expect for Santa to take flight on Dec. 24 and NORAD will track him,” the U.S.-Canadian agency said in a statement.

The Santa Tracker is supported by local and corporate sponsors, who help insulate the operation from financial turbulence. Outside of the tracker, NORAD monitors the skies in North America for potential threats from countries like China, Russia, and Iran.

The promise comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are attempting to pass a major spending bill that will keep the U.S. government funded through March. The lawmakers have until midnight Friday to secure the deal.

Congress is expected to break for the holidays on Friday if the bill is passed.

Children and families can monitor Santa’s location from 4am to midnight mountain standard time on Christmas Eve here.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.