House Speaker blocks Trump's State of Union address

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address, firing back at his promise to continue with the speech.

Pelosi said the House "will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address," which would take place in the House Chamber, until the government has reopened.

The letter written by Pelosi came hours after Trump sent a similar letter to the House Speaker, saying he would carry on with the address, despite the alleged security concerns due to the partial government shutdown.

On being told Pelosi rejected his State of the Union address letter, Trump responded by saying "I'm not surprised. It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They've become radicalized."

"The State of the Union has been cancelled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn’t want to hear the truth," Trump said.

"She’s afraid of the super-left Democrats, the radical Democrats. What’s going on in that party is shocking," he added.

The letters on Wednesday were the latest in a political rift between the two leaders over the government shutdown, caused by a stark disagreement on funding for Trump's border wall.

Last Wednesday, Pelosi asked Trump to delay his address slated for Jan. 29, citing alleged security challenges prompted by the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Trump responded to Pelosi's request by halting a planned international trip by the House Speaker which included stops in Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan.

With the shutdown lasting now over a month, more than 800,000 federal employees are still working without pay if their duties are deemed essential, or being forced to stay home from their jobs amid the funding lapse.

Trump insists that lawmakers provide him with nearly $6 billion to fund the construction of his separation barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, but Democrats have so far uniformly rejected the demand.

The president went further to dispute Pelosi's reasoning for calling off the speech, and said he would look at other alternatives for the address.

*Michael Hernandez contributed to this report