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Speaker Pelosi to Trump: Cancel or Postpone State of the Union

HeadlineJan 17, 2019

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Wednesday for President Trump to cancel his State of the Union address later this month, arguing the government shutdown has left the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security starved for funds and unprepared to simultaneously protect all three branches of government.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “That we would have the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States, the entire Congress of the United States—House and Senate—the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Cabinet of the United States—did I say that?—and the diplomatic core, all in the same room, this requires hundreds of people working on the logistics and the security of it. Most of those people are either furloughed or victims of the shutdown, the president’s shutdown.”

Speaker Pelosi said Trump should cancel the State of the Union, move it to a later date or submit it in writing. Republicans dismissed Pelosi’s warning as a political stunt.

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