(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)On Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) canceled President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber, which was originally scheduled for January 29. Hours later, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) went on live television to make Pelosi pay for her petty political games.
In response to correspondence from President Donald Trump daring her to follow through with the suggestion that next week’s State of the Union address be put off, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) officially canceled the annual speech.
“This afternoon, I sent @realDonaldTrump a letter informing him that the House will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi tweeted on Wednesday.
This afternoon, I sent @realDonaldTrump a letter informing him that the House will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened. https://t.co/r1oad0xEAh pic.twitter.com/kGEbayx95u
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 23, 2019
In a letter to the president, the Speaker wrote, “When I extended an invitation on January 3rd for you to deliver the State of the Union address, it was on the mutually agreed upon date, January 29th. At that time, there was no thought that the government would still be shut down.”
“In my further correspondence of January 16th, I said we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has re-opened and I hope that we can still do that,” she added. “I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened.”
“Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened,” she concluded passive-aggressively.
It seems that there is literally no end to the petty political games Pelosi is willing to play, which Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw noted during a Thursday morning appearance on Fox News. Crenshaw slammed Pelosi and the Democrats for touting the importance of ending the partial government shutdown so that federal workers could get paid, while at the same time voting against legislation that would pay federal workers.
“If [the Democrats’] priority is really federal workers, and that’s a laudable priority for sure, then let’s actually pay them so that they can’t be used as pawns,” Crenshaw said. “If we’re not paying them, then I don’t know what else to say except that Democrats actually want them as leverage, and that’s really not right.”
US Rep Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, accuses Democrats of using federal workers as pawns during an interview on Fox & Friends this morning. "The Democrats want them as leverage." https://t.co/Ws0FILRw09
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) January 24, 2019
But, of course, American workers are not Pelosi’s priority. If they were, she’d have been happy to approve the $5.7 billion the president needs to finish his border wall. After all, it is in the best interest of every American citizen for the government to finally secure our border.
The House passed a stopgap funding bill on Dec. 20 that included $5.7 billion to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, however, with a 51-seat majority, Republicans fell short of the necessary 60 votes needed to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature, and consequently, a partial government shutdown has been in effect since funding expired Dec. 21.
House Democrats have been introducing appropriation bills that do not include any funding for a border wall, a move which Trump, as well as other congressional Republicans, hailed as a non-starter. [Source: The Daily Caller]
“This is a very little known fact but it’s very important,” Rep. Crenshaw said on Thursday. “Over the last week, we voted twice on a motion to recommit, which would send an appropriations bill back to committee, in order to pay federal workers. Now this is separate from the bipartisan plan to give them backpay. That’s separate.”
“This is two other bills that would actually pay them in real time. This would actually pay them right now … this is important,” he said. “Let’s pay them right now. Let’s pass these kind of bills.”
This government shutdown has made one thing painfully clear — Democratic leadership hates President Donald Trump more than they love their own country and constituents.
