Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will not allow President Trump to give the State of the Union speech in the U.S. House chamber, where it historically has been, citing the government shutdown.
Late Wednesday, Trump agreed to Pelosi’s demands and said that he will do the State of the Union address “when the shutdown is over.”
“As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed,” Pres. Trump said on social media. “She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a “great” State of the Union Address in the near future!”
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, called the disinvite an “Unprecedented attempt to muffle the President.”
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first-time-in-history cancellation of a president’s State of the Union address shows how radical and hyper-partisan the Democrats have become and undermines bipartisanship at a time America needs it the most,” Brooks said. “This unprecedented attempt to muffle the President may appease the radical, Socialist base of the Democrat Party, but it hurts America and symbolizes how dysfunctional a Socialist Democrat House of Representatives has made Washington.”
U.S. Senate candidate Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler called the Speaker’s decision “outrageous.”
“It is outrageous for Speaker Pelosi to withdraw the invitation for the President to give the State of the Union Speech in the U.S. House,” Zeigler said. “The strongest steps should be taken against Speaker Pelosi and her fellow obstructionists. If a Republican Speaker of the House had dis-invited President Obama from speaking in Congress for the State of the Union Speech, the Speaker would have been virulently attacked as disrespectful, partisan, and racist.”
“We are witnessing totally unprecedented obstruction from Nancy Pelosi and the radical Democrats,” Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, said. “First, she is blocking strong border security, which puts the safety of the American people at risk. Now, she is blocking President Trump from even speaking to Congress and the American people. Enough is enough!”
“I most strongly condemn Nancy Pelosi’s partisan, childish, and radical political stunt and renew my call for President Trump to not let Speaker Pelosi’s absurd and counter-productive decision keep him from speaking directly to the American people about the state of America’s union,” Brooks continued. “Last week, 29 of my House colleagues and I sent a letter encouraging Vice President Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to invite President Trump to deliver his constitutionally mandated report on the state of the union in the Senate Chamber. Should the Senate Chamber be unavailable, I urge President Trump to deliver his State of the Union address in a state that borders Mexico as that symbolism will help President Trump communicate to the American people about Democrat efforts to protect illegal aliens and promote open borders no matter how many dead Americans result from Democrat obstructionism, and no matter how long the resulting partial government shutdown may last.”
800,000 federal government workers have now missed two of their biweekly pay checks. 420,000 of those workers have had to report to work despite receiving no pay.
