Pelosi Will Not Authorize SOTU Until Government Reopens

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., xxxxXXXXX speaks to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., walk from the West Wing to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situ... Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., walk from the West Wing to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

In a new letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday told President Donald Trump that she will not authorize him to deliver the State of the Union, despite his insistence, until the government reopens.

“When I extended an invitation on January 3rd for you to deliver the State of the Union address, it was on the mutually agreed upon date, January 29th,” she wrote. “At that time, there was no thought that the government would still be shut down.”

“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 reopened,” she added.

President Donald Trump reacted to the letter in real time during a pool spray in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.

“I’m not surprised,” he said after smirking and shaking his head. “It’s really a shame what’s happening with the Democrats, they’ve become radicalized, they don’t want to see crimes stop which we can very easily do on the southern border.”

Read Pelosi’s letter here:

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for caltg caltg says:

    Good for Speaker Pelosi. Its about time that Donnie learns that as “president” he does not get to dictate policy!

  2. The Washington Examiner had an interesting piece about this:

    At the same time, however, as described by McClatchy, no rules would prevent Trump from entering the House chamber, or speaking on the House floor, whenever he wants. So he’s perfectly within his powers to show up and deliver his speech.

    That said, Pelosi, D-Calif., has other tools at her disposal to thwart Trump. She could shut off the lights, turn off the microphones, and also make sure that no cameras are allowed because the House won’t be in session.

    Both parties have done this to each other in the past.

    In 2008, during her first term as speaker, Pelosi adjourned without allowing a vote Republicans wanted related to offshore drilling, shut off the lights, and cut off the microphones to block Republicans from complaining about it. Republicans refused to leave the floor and kept on talking anyway.

    In 2016, Pelosi was on the opposite side of this sort of situation, when she joined Democrats in staging a sit-in after the Republican majority blocked gun control votes. Democrats remained on the floor in the dark after the House was put in recess and used social media to broadcast video from the protest.

  3. Finally, a solution to the national nightmare: Pelosi has Trump arrested for trespassing and hopefully arranges a prompt rendition to Russia.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

262 more replies

Participants

Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for jootjoint Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for thehatter Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for clemmers Avatar for zoester Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for midnight_rambler Avatar for left_in_washington_state Avatar for bboerner Avatar for tena Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for tsp Avatar for katscherger Avatar for socalista Avatar for pike_bishop Avatar for bwillator Avatar for iamlegion Avatar for phi Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: