Last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter to President Trump stating that his State of the Union address might have to be postponed.
After Speaker Pelosi told President Trump that his State of the Union address might have to be postponed due to “security concerns” she was met with backlash from the secret service and Homeland security who said that their security was completely fine.
Still, the State of the Union address, which will be showed on TV, has been somewhat up in the air as to when it will actually be held. Fox News reported that the White House is still planning on holding the State of the Union address and “is still planning to move ahead with next week’s scheduled State of the Union address,” but that “details are up in the air.” [1]
The scheduled date for the address is January 29th but no official date has been marked on the congressional calendar. A resolution passed through both the House and Senate, is required to schedule the joint session for the speech. This resolution has not happened yet but the White House is moving on with plans for the speech anyway.
“She invited us. We accepted”CNN reported that a White House official said “She cited security concerns. (The Department of Homeland Security) responded to those. And we are moving forward.” [2]
Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options – including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, I’ll get back to you soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2019
Right now the President has two choices if the resolution isn’t passed. He can either write the State of the Union address and hand it into Congress and give the speech elsewhere. Or he can wait for the resolution to be passed, possibly rescheduling the address, and give the speech to the Congress as per usual. Right now it looks like he might go for the first option and hold the State of the Union address outside of Washington D.C.
Notes:
- ^Pappas, Alex. “White House planning to proceed with State of the Union, but details up in the air after Pelosi threat.” Fox News, 22 Jan. 2019, www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-planning-to-proceed-with-state-of-the-union-but-details-up-in-air-after-pelosi-threat. (go back ↩)
- ^Jeremy Diamond, Ashley Killough, and Ryan Nobles. “Trump, Pelosi remain at odds over State of the Union.” CNN, 22 Jan. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/politics/trump-state-of-the-union-plans/index.html. (go back ↩)
