McConnell should invite Trump to deliver the State of the Union in the Senate chamber – Washington Examiner

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It would be standing room only, and it would be historic. It is the smaller of the two chambers, and it has never hosted this kind of thing.

Otherwise it wouldn’t be all that different if the president delivered his State of the Union from the Senate chamber rather than the House of Representatives.

That is the reasoning of a handful of House Republicans, led by Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. They are circulating a letter, strongly worded no doubt, calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to host President Trump.

If Democrats don’t want to attend, they can make room for others. After all, it was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who tried canceling the address by citing nonexistent security concerns.

“Space limitations may restrict the number of Congressmen who may attend,” Brooks writes. “Inasmuch as House Democrats are responsible for the State of the Union not being timely held in the House chamber, I recommend that House Democrats be at the bottom of the priority list for attendance inasmuch as they are responsible for the lack of adequate space in the first instance.”

Though presidents have addressed the Senate directly in the past — notably a stuttering Woodrow Wilson, who tried and failed to cajole Republicans into ratifying the Treaty of Versailles and signing onto his League of Nations during a direct 1919 address — the conservative thing to do would be vote on the wall, end the shutdown, and let the State of the Union address proceed as regularly scheduled.

There is nothing in the Constitution that says a State of the Union must be delivered every year, or in a particular place. Democracies stumble along by trial and error, and here a change of pace and venue might be good. It certainly would be a classy way of responding to Pelosi’s provocation.

Pelosi has done her best to snub the president, giving McConnell an opportunity to extend a friendly and courteous invitation. Congress is bicameral for a reason, and the majority leader can host whomever he likes. If some politicians can’t find a seat, so be it. People will still watch — perhaps even more, in the circumstances.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/mcconnell-should-invite-trump-to-deliver-the-state-of-the-union-in-the-senate-chamber

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