Pelosi officially bans Trump from addressing Congress until shutdown ends

Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent an official letter to Trump telling him that he’s not welcome to give his State of the Union address in front of Congress until he decides to end his shutdown. Pelosi’s letter came shortly after Trump sent a letter of his own begging to be allowed to speak there.

“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 [the] government has opened,” Pelosi wrote.

Pelosi and House Democrats have passed multiple bills that would reopen the government, but Trump has repeatedly refused to let go of his unreasonable demands. Trump instigated a government shutdown in late December — which he declared at the time he would be “proud” to own — because Congress refused to pay the $5.7 billion ransom he demanded for an unpopular wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump has proved to be an epic failure at making a deal, with repeated tantrums, hissy fits, and outbursts. His lone attempt at a sham “compromise” was full of anti-immigrant language and completely unacceptable to Democratic lawmakers.

Americans overwhelmingly support the way Pelosi is handling the shutdown and her attempts to get government running again. But those attempts have been stymied by a cowardly GOP-led Senate, led by craven Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Since the shutdown began, McConnell has not held a single vote to reopen the government.

Pelosi’s unprecedented actions come during unprecedented times. As she pointed out in a previous letter asking Trump to consider a later date for the State of the Union, a State of the Union speech has never been given during a government shutdown. Pelosi did note that Trump was welcome to give the speech from the Oval Office if he wanted to, or even to make his statement in writing.

Pelosi’s latest letter concluded: “I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when [the] government has been opened.”

Trump decided to shut down the government, and now he is forced to live with the consequences. One of those consequences is being denied a public platform in the People’s House.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.