Americans could not believe what just happened.
Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi just agreed to end a major standoff.
And they did it by coming to an agreement that no one saw coming.
Nancy Pelosi fired a shot across Donald Trump’s bow during the government shutdown by canceling the State of the Union speech scheduled for January 29th.
Pelosi lied and claimed the Secret Service could not secure the event since they weren’t being paid during the shutdown.
The Speaker also falsely claimed that the government needed to reopen before the President could speak.
That was not true because the government was already shut down when Pelosi extended the original invitation on January 3rd.
It was a childish and petty political stunt.
And even when Trump did reopen the government, Pelosi still did not immediately re-extend the invitation to the President.
That led many observers to question Pelosi’s ability to negotiate in good faith.
Finally, on Monday, three days after President Trump ended the Democrat shutdown in order to allow Congress to negotiate a deal on border security, Speaker Pelosi extended an invitation to Trump to deliver the State of the Union on February 5th.
Pelosi wrote to Trump:
“When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year’s State of the Union address.
In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th.
Therefore, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on February 5, 2019 in the House Chamber.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Some pundits thought Pelosi might hold out until after the February 15th deadline to see if Trump would agree to forgo a second shutdown before inviting him to deliver the State of the Union.
However, that position was not tenable.
And it was a sign of things to come in the upcoming border security negotiations.
The pressure is on Pelosi and the Democrats to now meet the President halfway on funding for a physical barrier along the Southern border.
Pelosi could not hold to her original opposition in preventing the President from delivering the State of the Union until a permanent border deal was reached even though Trump met Pelosi’s condition of reopening the government.
In a press conference after Trump agreed to end the Democrats government shutdown, Pelosi hedged on her opposition to wall funding in the three week negotiations.
As the shutdown was ending Friday, Pelosi was careful not to rule out wall money or money for barriers in this coming round of talks.
While she wouldn't draw a line for this new round, she said: "Have I not been clear on a wall? I've been very clear on a wall." pic.twitter.com/Eiq31HujWm
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 28, 2019
Even RINO Republican Lamar Alexander expressed optimism that lawmakers could agree on a deal that included funding for Trump’s border wall.
Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Alexander about the possibility of Congress striking a deal on funding for the wall.
“Well, we should,” Alexander answered.
“And here’s something that’s overlooked. The last four presidents, Obama, Clinton, Bush, Bush, working with Congress, built 654 miles of physical barrier — that’s wall — along our 2,000-mile southern border. That’s before President Trump,” Alexander concluded.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
