Pelosi re-invites Trump to deliver State of the Union address Feb. 5

After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, and the cancellation of the State of the Union address earlier in January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again invited President Donald Trump to deliver an address before a joint session of Congress next week.

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Pelosi sent a letter to the White House on Monday re-inviting Trump to deliver the annual presidential address, now that the government has re-opened and the shutdown has ended, at least for now.

“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,” Pelosi wrote.

“In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th,” she said. “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.”

During her first White House press briefing Monday in more than a month, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump is looking forward to delivering the speech and will confirm the date as soon as the invitation is extended.

The government reopened Friday after a partial shutdown on Dec. 22 that affected 800,000 workers, but the president gave Congress just three weeks to work out a border security plan, threatening to shut down the government again or declare a national emergency in mid-February, if he doesn't get more than $5 billion for a border wall.

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