CONGRESS/GOVERNMENT/NANCY PELOSI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump will deliver the annual State of the Union address next week after accepting an invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had postponed it due to the partial shutdown of the U.S. government. The nationally televised address from the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, now set for Feb. 5, presents Trump with a powerful opportunity to appeal directly to the American public to support his policies, including his demand that Congress fund a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The speech had originally been scheduled for Jan. 29, but Pelosi canceled it last week, saying it should not be delivered until a partial government shutdown was over. The record-long shutdown, brought about by a fight between the White House and Democrats in Congress over his wall funding demands, ended on Friday after 35 days, paving the way for the speech to go ahead.”
–Reuters, “Trump, Pelosi Agree on Feb. 5 for State of the Union Address,” The New York Times online, January 28, 2019