Pelosi asks to postpone State of the Union speech
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing security constraints from the partial government shutdown, asked President Trump on Wednesday to scrap his Jan. 29 State of the Union address, and a bipartisan group of senators called on him to reopen the government while they negotiated a compromise on border security.
“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 Congress on January 29,” Pelosi said in a letter to Trump on Wednesday. She suggested he forgo the annual presidential ritual of addressing a joint session of Congress in a televised speech during prime time and submit a written message instead.
While she couched her request in logistical concerns, Pelosi’s proposal served as a reminder to Trump that, with Democrats in control of the House, she has the power to frustrate his agenda and upend his plans amid a prolonged stalemate over his demands for a wall on the southwestern border. It intensified the pressure on the president as a group of centrist House Democrats and Republicans met with Trump at the White House for talks aimed at resolving the impasse.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, called the meeting “constructive” and said, “They listened to one another, and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants.”
During the meeting, lawmakers told Trump he must abandon his demand for funding for a border wall in exchange for reopening the government, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, one of seven Democrats who attended the meeting, said in a statement.
A separate group of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were circulating a letter calling on Trump to drop his demand that wall funding accompany any bill to end the shutdown, urging him to agree to sign a three-week stopgap government funding measure to allow time to forge a “broad bipartisan agreement” on border security spending.
The letter has support from several Republican senators including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, as well as centrist Democrats.