U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she would not host U.S. President Donald Trump to deliver a state of the union speech before government reopens, all but rejecting Trump’s intent to deliver the speech Jan. 29.

“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s state of the union address in the House chamber until the government has opened,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said when she extended the invitation Jan. 3 for Trump to deliver the speech, “there was no thought that the government would still be shut down” Jan. 29.

The partial government shutdown, triggered by a partisan impasse over Trump’s demand for funding of a border wall, now has stretched to its 33rd day.

Pelosi’s letter came in response to Trump’s letter earlier in the day announcing his intent to deliver the speech in front of a joint session of Congress in the chamber of the House on Jan. 29.

Pelosi on Jan. 16 asked Trump to consider postponing the speech due to the government shutdown, which has left 800,000 federal workers on furlough or working without pay.

(Xinhua)