01/23/2019
It is unclear if President Trump will give his State of the Union address next week. Fox’s Chad Pergram has more in today’s “Speaker’s Lobby.”
I’m Chad Pergram with the Speaker’s Lobby.
Nothing will happen for State of the Union at the Capitol, unless both the House and Senate approve a Concurrent Resolution for a Joint Session of Congress in the House chamber on January 29th.
The resolution authorizes use of the House chamber for the speech and permits the President to address Congress.
Usually these resolutions are a fait accompli.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited the President, and then suggested they pick another date once the shutdown is resolved.
Certainly it’s within Pelosi’s prerogative to rescind her invitation.
But frankly, she doesn’t have to do anything.
If the House and/or Senate don’t approve a concurrent resolution for the speech then, then the gig is up.
Even if the measure were to move through the House, the resolution is subject to not one but two filibusters in the Senate.
Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution allows the President to convene either chamber of Congress “on extraordinary occasions.”
President Harry Truman called on Congress to meet in 1947 and 1948.
But just because the President can do it, doesn’t mean he has the right to speak in the House chamber.
With the Speaker’s Lobby, Chad Pergram. Fox News.
