US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has informed US President Donald Trump that he will not be allowed to deliver his annual State of the Union address until a partial government shutdown ends.
“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 opened,” Pelosi said in a letter to Trump on Wednesday.
The State of the Union speech is considered as an opportunity by the US presidents to explain their future goals before a joint session of the US Congress at the beginning of each year. This year’s speech had been set for January 29.
Pelosi on January 16 asked Trump to consider postponing the speech because of the shutdown, citing concerns about security for the event.
But Trump downplayed the security concerns, saying that the Department of Homeland Security and…