Pelosi gets tough with Trump
‘A SHAME’: TRUMP
WASHINGTON • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will not allow President Donald Trump to deliver the State of the Union in the House chamber next week, writing to him on Wednesday afternoon that he can give the annual speech at the Capitol once the government shutdown is over.
Pelosi said when she extended Trump the invitation earlier this month on Jan. 3, “there was no thought that the government would still be shut down.” The partial shutdown, triggered by a partisan standoff over Trump’s demand for a border wall, is now on its 33rd day.
“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi wrote to Trump. “Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.”
The House and Senate must pass a concurrent resolution for a joint session of Congress to hear the president.
Asked about Pelosi’s letter at a White House event Wednesday afternoon, Trump responded, “I’m not surprised.”
“It’s really a shame, what’s happening with the Democrats. They’ve become radicalized,” Trump said. He added: “This will go on for a while. Ultimately, the American people will have their way, because they want to see no crime.”
Shortly before Pelosi released her letter, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced that he had submitted a resolution that would permit the president to deliver his address. But Pelosi’s statement means that the measure stands little chance of being taken up by the chamber.
“I don’t think anyone in America would agree with that position,” McCarthy said earlier Wednesday when asked about the possibility of Pelosi cancelling the speech.
The sparring over the president’s annual address to Congress comes as the partial federal government is in the midst of the longest shutdown in U.S. history, with 800,000 federal workers forced to go without pay and states scrambling to mitigate the impact on the poorest Americans.
A new study estimated that workers affected by the shutdown will be owed US$6 billion by the end of this week.