House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday defended her decision to postpone President Trump’s State of the Union address, and she said the law enforcement personnel tasked with securing the event are not getting paid because of the partial government shutdown.
“It isn’t a question of are they professional enough,” Pelosi said, referring to the Secret Service, which countered Pelosi’s initial argument that they are hobbled by the shutdown and cannot sufficiently secure the State of the Union. “The question is they should be paid.”
Pelosi said she wants Trump to agree to a new date to deliver his address after the government reopens.
Nine departments and dozens of agencies have been partially closed since Dec. 22 due to a spending impasse over border wall funding. Pelosi upped the ante this week by pushing Trump to reschedule his remarks until after the shutdown is over.
“I’m saying, let’s get a date when the government is open, let’s pay the employees,” Pelosi said, referring to the 800,000 federal workers who aren’t being paid. “He thinks it’s OK not to pay people who do work. I don’t and my caucus doesn’t either.”
Pelosi cited security concerns in her Wednesday letter to Trump requesting the postponement. She said Thursday that the decision was made after consulting with Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this week backed the Secret Service’s response to Pelosi by saying that agency is “fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.”
Pelosi criticized the tweet and said Nielsen “should be advocating for her employees to be paid.”
Trump has not responded to Pelosi’s postponement request, and Pelosi would not say what she’ll do if Trump denies the request. She told reporters, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Pelosi characterized Trump’s lack of a response as “very silent.”
