Cancelled Travel

From the BBC:

"Trump cancels Nancy Pelosi foreign trip citing shutdown"

US President Donald Trump has postponed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's upcoming trip to Brussels, Afghanistan and Egypt, citing the government shutdown. "I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate," Mr Trump said in a letter. Mrs Pelosi urged Mr Trump on Wednesday to postpone his State of the Union address, citing the political deadlock. Mr Trump's move came on the 27th day of a partial US government shutdown.  The Republican president wants $5.7bn (£4.4bn) of congressional funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, but Democrats have refused. Mr Trump's cancellation of the trip emerged less than an hour before the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives was scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon, US media say. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders shared the letter in a tweet. "I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the Strong Border Security movement to end the Shutdown," Mr Trump wrote. "Obviously if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative. "I look forward to seeing you soon and even more forward to watching our open and dangerous Southern Border finally receiving the attention, funding, and security it so desperately deserves!" A White House official told US media the president was able to halt the foreign trip by Mrs Pelosi and a congressional delegation because they were set to use military aircraft. Mrs Pelosi's travel had not been announced before Mr Trump's letter. Some commentators expressed dismay that the president would reveal plans about a trip to a war zone by a congresswoman who is second in line to the presidency. The shutdown chess match between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi has turned into a game of checkers.  The House speaker threatens to take away his State of the Union Address? The president erases her congressional trip to Belgium, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Jump-jump-jump. Your move. The White House had reportedly been caught flat-footed by Ms Pelosi's State of the Union announcement on Wednesday and was searching for ways to circumvent the speaker's threatened roadblock.  There's still no obvious solution for them, but that hasn't kept the president from firing back. How the American public perceives this tit-for-tat is an open question.  At least so far, the president appears to be shouldering the lion's share of the blame for the government shutdown.  At some point, however, the governmental dysfunction could drag everyone down. Meanwhile, 800,000 federal employees continue to work - or sit at home - without pay.  Government websites crash, services grind to a halt and the economic toll begins to mount.  This has become a zero-sum battle where the costs of continuing to fight are matched only by the political price to be paid if a side backs down. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Mr Trump's "petty" action "demeans the presidency". Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said: "One sophomoric response does not deserve another." He called Mrs Pelosi's threat to cancel the state of the union address "irresponsible", and Mr Trump's response "also inappropriate". Fox News also reports that members of Congress who were due to join the trip have been left sitting on a US Air Force bus at Capitol Hill. The California representative's office has not yet responded to the president's letter. In her own letter to Mr Trump on Wednesday, Mrs Pelosi called on him to reschedule his annual address to Congress since "the extraordinary demands presented" by the event could not be met during the shutdown. Mr Trump has not yet directly responded to the request to move his speech. Earlier on Thursday, Ms Pelosi told reporters that the Democrats did not want security officers working unpaid. "Maybe he thinks it's okay not to pay people who work," Ms Pelosi said. "I don't." Democrats in the House passed another bill to re-open parts of the government, but like past attempts, it is expected to fail in the Republican-led Senate. The new stopgap bill proposes to re-open the government through 28 February. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to take up any legislation that does not have the president's approval, and has accused Democrats of wasting time.

^ Pelosi should have cancelled this foreign trip herself due to the Government Shutdown and how it is affecting hundreds of thousands of Americans. While it does seem Trump and the Democrats are simply using this Shutdown to pick fights with each other (and keep ordinary Americans hostage while they do it) the Shutdown is a reality and until it is resolved every politician from both parties should be in and around DC to work on opening the Government once again. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46911478