GOVERNMENT/NANCY PELOSI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday [1-16-18] asked President Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address — or deliver it in writing — as long as the government remains shut down. The president was set to give his annual speech to Congress on Jan. 29. But Pelosi said the partial shutdown has hamstrung both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, potentially harming the security planning that precedes the primetime address…She later told CNN that the address requires hundreds of people to help organize and ensure security, and many of those staffers are now furloughed. She added that Trump could give the State of the Union from the Oval Office. A Department of Homeland Security official said that the security preparations for the speech haven’t been affected by the shutdown because the ‘vast majority’ of Secret Service agents are on the job, working without pay. Hours after Pelosi sent her letter, the White House had still not issued a formal response to the request to postpone the speech as of Wednesday evening.”
–Heather Caygle and Rachael Bade, “Pelosi asks Trump to reschedule SOTU because of shutdown,” Politico, January 16, 2019 6:14 pm