Trump, Pelosi agree on Feb. 5 for State of the Union address
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to deliver his State of the Union address in the Capitol on Feb. 5, now that the federal government is open for the first time in five weeks.
The agreement on a date for the speech ends a bitter battle between the two political rivals during the 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of federal workers returned to a regular work week Monday, or went to work expecting to be paid now that the shutdown has ended.
Trump signed legislation last week to keep the government funded at current budget levels until Feb. 15, giving a bipartisan, bicameral conference committee time to cobble together a border security package that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law.
The president continues to demand $5.7 billion for a border wall, and Pelosi told a news conference last week that Democrats would provide funds for fencing, technology and ports of entry — but no wall.
The State of the Union speech had initially been scheduled for Jan. 29, but Pelosi rescinded that offer citing security concerns and lack of pay for federal law enforcement as the shutdown dragged on.
In retaliation, Trump denied Pelosi and a congressional delegation use of a military aircraft to visit troops in Afghanistan.
Now, with the government reopened, Pelosi invited Trump to speak before Congress next week, and he accepted.
Earlier Monday, press secretary Sarah Sanders held the first White House press briefing, which used to be held daily, since Dec. 18 — four days before the shutdown began. The briefing began with a focus on foreign policy, but ended with reporters peppering Sanders with questions about the shutdown.
The three-week timetable to keep the government running could mean more trouble for the U.S. economy. Monday the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 35-day shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion — $3 billion of which will never be recovered.
But chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters he sees the U.S. economy as running strong, and predicted that the economy would grow at a robust rate of three percent. Kudlow said he was skeptical of the CBO estimate.
Sanders said that Trump did not want another government shutdown, but one could not be ruled out. If Democrats do not support a compromise budget, Trump could try to get the funds he wants for a wall by declaring a national emergency, which would likely face a legal challenge.
“Ideally Democrats would take these next three weeks to negotiate in good faith as they’ve indicated that they would and come up with a deal that makes sense, that actually fixes the problem” of border security, Sanders said.
A Washington Post-ABC poll found 34 percent of those polled approved of President Donald Trump’s handling of the partial government shutdown and 60 percent disapproved. The poll also found that 36 percent of respondents approved of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s handling of the shutdown, and 54 percent disapproved.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.