SOTU address rescheduled for February 5

(Washington, D.C.) Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump have agreed on a new date for the State of the Union address. Pelosi sent the following letter to President Trump on Monday: “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.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders led a media briefing later that day, mainly regarding the recent sanctions against Venezuela over the illegitimate declaration of Nicolas Maduro as the country’s president, condemned by several world leaders including President Trump earlier this month. When the shutdown was brought up, Sanders said President Trump does not want to go through another one. “That’s not the goal,” Sanders said. “The goal is border security and protecting the American people. Ideally, Democrats would take these next three weeks to negotiate in good faith, as they’ve indicated that they would, and come up with a deal that makes sense that actually fixes the problem so we don’t have to go through that process.” Meanwhile, Pelosi called on the president to avoid another shutdown, following a Congressional Budget Office report that the historic shutdown cost the country $11 billion dollars, including $3 billion it would never get back. “Families across the nation are still trying to recover from a month of missing paychecks and overdue bills, but the President is already threatening a second shutdown if he doesn’t get his way,” Pelosi said. “When the Congress completes its bipartisan, bicameral work to fund government, the President should swiftly sign that legislation to avert another shutdown and restore certainty to our economy and the lives of the American people.” The White House disputed the CBO numbers during Monday’s briefing. Sanders said if they don’t come back with a deal, Democrats will get nothing. “That will make the President — and force him to have to take executive action that does not give Democrats the things that they want. So this is a perfect time. And the table has been perfectly set by the President in order for a good deal to come together where everybody gets a little bit of something they’re looking for,” Sanders said. Sanders said the President will not stop until the border is secure, and that includes having a border wall.