House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shook things up Wednesday by «suggesting» President Donald Trump work with her to reschedule the January 29 State of the Union address — or just submit it in writing.
Bottom line, this is where things stand on the 27th day of the government shutdown: power plays and positioning. In other words, there is still no end in sight.
Democratic lawmakers and aides practically had a countdown clock set awaiting a tweet from the President firing back at the clear move by Pelosi to exert control — and brushback — the White House amid the stagnant shutdown negotiations. That still hasn’t occurred. Most on Capitol Hill want to know why — and what it means.
SOTU Dynamics
Pelosi’s letter suggested the White House work with House Democrats to reschedule the speech, but make no mistake — this is Pelosi’s decision.
Is the State of the Union canceled? No, not technically. Pelosi is technically asking for a postponement or a written version (which does have historical precedent.)
If the government reopens this week, it will still be on (spoiler: the government is not going to reopen this week).
And talks could occur to clear the way for it at some point, at least conceivably. But on a purely technical basis, the House and Senate need to pass resolutions to officially schedule the State of the Union. Neither have done so yet — and Pelosi can control whether the House does at all.
The Senate idea
There were murmurs that perhaps the Republican-controlled Senate could invite the President to address that chamber. CNN has been told that’s not being discussed at all.
That would also take a resolution — which would be subject to a 60-vote threshold — something Republicans don’t have the votes to pass. So don’t consider this idea as serious for the moment. Has it happened before historically? Yes, but there was bipartisan sign off. Could the Senate change the rules to allow on a simple majority threshold? Conceivably, but there’s no discussion of that at the moment.
The President is free to give a speech anywhere else he wants, and Republican aides said Wednesday they expect he will use Pelosi’s move as a reason to do so. But so far, GOP lawmakers have been given no guidance as to what the President will do.
