Government shutdown may upend State of the Union speech

A Washington ritual became a potential casualty of the government shutdown Wednesday as Nancy Pelosi asked Trump to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union speech, citing concerns about whether the hobbled government can provide adequate security; Republicans cast her move as a ploy to deny Trump the stage.

In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said that with Secret Service and Homeland Security Department entangled in the shutdown, the president should speak to Congress another time or he should deliver the address in writing. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen denied anyone’s safety is compromised, saying both agencies “are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.”

Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been working on bipartisan strategies, declared glumly: “I am running out of ideas.”