NO YOU WON’T: Pelosi Promises to Block Trump SOTU Until Government Open

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The back and forth continues between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the issue of the State of the Union address and government shutdown. Early Wednesday the president sent Speaker Pelosi a letter saying he planned to move ahead with the speech originally scheduled for January 29 in the U.S. House, refusing her refusal to host the president amid the government being partially shutdown.

Now Pelosi has responded, again refusing to allow the address on the House floor until the government is reopened.

From CNBC:

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Democrats will not authorize President Donald Trump to give his State of the Union in the House chamber until the partial government shutdown ends.

The California Democrat’s letter to Trump escalates a standoff over the annual address hours after the president said he would give the speech in the House chamber next week as planned. Earlier this month, Pelosi urged him to reschedule the speech during a partial government shutdown.[…]

Pelosi can technically bar him from the room, and both chambers of Congress need to pass a resolution setting up the joint session where he would speak.[…]”

So the Speaker’s original faux concern was a lack of security, but that has been proven to be contrived. Now it’s a transparent demand to reopen the government, with out a single concession from Democrats on border security, in order to apprise the nation of the state of the Union from the House floor, as is traditional.

Now that the ball is back in Trump’s court, it’s only a matter of time before the volley continues.