NOT IN MY HOUSE
Pelosi yanks Trump’s State of Union invite — unless record-long shutdown ends
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants President Trump to delay next week’s address to the nation — or submit it in writing — because of “security concerns” stemming from shutdown.
As long as the government is shut down, the President might be shut out.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday took the unprecedented step of uninviting President Trump from his own State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress — citing “security concerns” — while the government remains closed.
In a letter, Pelosi noted that both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department are stretched thin because of the shutdown and requested the commander-in-chief consider postponing the event — or just deliver it in writing.
“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government reopens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has reopened for this address, or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on Jan. 29,” the California Democrat wrote.
Trump did not immediately respond to the bold request, which came on the 26th day of the ongoing government shutdown, but Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wasn’t buying it.
Homeland Security and the Secret Service are “fully prepared to support and secure” the State of the Union, she tweeted.
Trump and Democrats remain at odds over the President’s demands to approve $5.7 billion to build a wall along the Mexican border. About a quarter of the government has been shuttered since Dec. 22, leaving roughly 800,000 furloughed federal employees either out of work or working without pay.
The speaker noted in her letter that prior to the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, the annual address was delivered to Capitol Hill in writing.
It’s unclear if Congress has ever rescinded an invitation for the President to speak, although lawmakers have rejected some White House requests to address the body, including a proposal by Ronald Reagan in 1986 to argue for aid for Nicaragua’s Contras.
While the letter stops short of telling Trump not to come outright, Pelosi’s office would not say if such a move was being contemplated or possible. Both the House and the Senate have to pass resolutions officially inviting the President to speak before a joint session. Neither have done so yet.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy knocked Pelosi’s letter as a power play, accusing her of acting “unbecoming” of a speaker.
“It is not a security issue — that’s politics,” he said. “It’s pure politics.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered support for Pelosi’s plan.
“What is the state of the union? The government is closed because of President Trump,” Schumer said. “If it continues to be closed on the 29th I think it’s a good idea to delay it until the government’s open.”
A group of House freshmen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), took a field trip to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office for the second day in a row to deliver a letter calling on the Kentucky Republican to allow the upper chamber to vote on House-passed bills reopening the government.
Another group of House Dems, including New York Reps. Thomas Suozzi, Anthony Brindisi and Max Rose, attended a Situation Room meeting with the President, where they pushed Trump to reopen the government as negotiations on border security continue.
Rose said both Trump and Vice President Pence “spent a lot of time” with the Democrats, calling the talks “very sensible discussions that involved listening and speaking.”
Two people who attended the White House meeting agreed it was “productive,” but could not say to what extent Trump was listening or moved by the conversation.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the event candidly, said it seemed at some points as if people were talking past each other. Lawmakers talked about the shutdown’s effect on their constituents and advocated for “border security.” Trump and others on and off used the term “wall.”
McConnell has so far refused to bring any bills reopening the government to a vote unless Trump pledges to sign them.
The shutdown stretched into uncharted territory over the weekend, becoming the longest on record and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors without a paycheck.
Trump on Wednesday signed legislation guaranteeing back pay to federal employees affected by the shutdown, but with no end in sight his own economists began to express fear that the impasse is causing greater economic harm than expected.
Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, admitted Tuesday that growth is slowing more than predicted.
Hassett said the White House is doubling its estimate of the strain on the economy of the shutdown, and now calculates that it is slowing growth by about 0.1 percentage points a week.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that despite the shutdown and the projected slowdown, the economy remains strong.
“I know there has been some impact, but at the same time we’re focused on the long-term economic principles the President has laid out,” she said.