WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is officially postponing President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address until the government is fully reopened.
The California Democrat told Trump in a letter Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass the required measure for him to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor.
Pelosi acted just hours after Trump notified her that he was planning to deliver the speech next Tuesday in line with her original invitation.
Pelosi’s moves have left the White House scrambling to devise an alternative plan for the speech, which is one of the president’s top opportunities to lay out his agenda to the public.
Pelosi said “I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.”
President Donald Trump says he will do an “alternative” event.
Trump at the White House Wednesday said the cancellation was a “disgrace.”
He did not detail his next move, saying: “We will be announcing what we’re doing.”
Trump said he was planning a “really important speech” and called Pelosi’s move a “great blotch on the country that we all love.”
He argued Pelosi was blocking him because she doesn’t want to hear “the truth” about border security.
