The Trump administration today hit back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bid to derail the president’s State of the Union speech to US Congress.
Mrs Pelosi has suggested the speech should be delayed — or sent in writing — because the partial government shutdown was putting too much pressure on the security services.
But Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, tweeted today that her department was “fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union”.
The US secret service was also said to be ready to protect the president for the January 29 address — even though its agents are not being paid because of the budget impasse over funding for Mr Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico.
“It’s a no-fail mission,” a senior US law enforcement official told NBC News. “We’ve been planning for this for months, as we always do. It didn’t start up 29 days ago.”
Mr Trump reportedly wants to use his televised address to a full session of Congress to put his case for the border wall and accuse Democrats of causing the deadlock in talks that has led to hundreds of thousands of federal employees being laid off or forced to work without pay.
The Democrats are refusing to agree a $5.7 billion (£4.4 billion) provision to finance the wall. As a result, Mr Trump will not sign off on a budget deal to fund US government services.
In an attempt to raise the stakes in the negotiations, Mrs Pelosi, head of the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives, last night urged Mr Trump to push back his speech or deliver it in writing.
“He can make it from the Oval Office if he wants,” she said later, claiming she was not “disinviting” the president.
Mrs Pelosi cited security concerns for her plea. “Both the US secret service and the department of homeland security have not been funded for 26 days,” she wrote in a letter to the White House.
The speaker also stated that most presidents delivered their address in writing before the early 20th century.
She added: “I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has reopened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to Congress on January 29.”
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said: “For her to say security — there is no security issue, it is pure politics and it’s wrong.”
