There, the president’s top assistants continued discussing the State of the Union message with television correspondents while, in the background, the scene of the exploding space shuttle was repeated on a large television screen that had been wheeled into the room. Whenever a news bulletin about the disaster was broadcast, an aide signaled White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan, who stopped the discussion in the room to hear the latest developments. An hour and twenty minutes after the explosion, the president came into the Roosevelt Room for what was supposed to be a sales pitch for the State of the Union address. Standing by a fireplace at the head of a long, oval table, Reagan immediately acknowledged to the television correspondents that there wasn’t much sense in talking about the details of the planned speech that night.<doc-sep>Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen denied anyone’s safety is compromised, saying Wednesday that both agencies ‘‘are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.’’ In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said that with both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department entangled in the shutdown, the president should speak to Congress another time or he should deliver the address in writing. WASHINGTON — A grand Washington ritual became a potential casualty of the partial government shutdown as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Trump to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union speech. She cited concerns about whether the hobbled government can provide adequate security, but Republicans cast her move as a ploy to deny Trump the stage. Advertisement Trump did not immediately respond to the request and the White House, thrown off guard by the move, had yet to offer any official response hours later. But GOP allies accused Pelosi of playing politics, with Republican Rep. Steve Scalise tweeting that Democrats are ‘‘only interested in obstructing @realDonaldTrump, not governing.’’ #ShutdownNancy’s decision to shut down the State of the Union was never about security. It was about the obstruction of @realDonaldTrump. Plain and simple. https://t.co/k7LWmEayFb — Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 16, 2019 Pelosi, who issued the customary invitation to Trump weeks ago, hit the president in a vulnerable place, as he delights in taking his message to the public and has been preparing for the address for weeks. The uncertainty surrounding the speech also underscored the unraveling of ceremonial norms and niceties in Trump’s Washington, with the shutdown in its fourth week, the White House and Democrats in a stalemate and the impasse draining the finances of hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Pelosi left unclear what would happen if Trump insisted on coming despite the welcome mat being pulled away. It takes a joint resolution of the House and Congress to extend the official invitation and set the stage. ‘‘We’ll have to have a security evaluation, but that would mean diverting resources,’’ she told reporters when asked how she would respond if Trump still intended to come. ‘‘I don’t know how that could happen.’’ Advertisement Pressure on Trump intensified on the 26th day of the shutdown, as lawmakers from both parties scrambled for solutions. At the White House, Trump met a bipartisan group of lawmakers, as well as a group of Republican senators, but progress appeared elusive. While his own advisers said the shutdown was proving a greater drag on the economy than expected, Trump showed no signs of backing off a fight that he views as vital for his core supporters. On Wednesday, Trump signed legislation into law affirming that the roughly 800,000 federal workers who have been going without pay will ultimately be compensated for their lost wages. That was the practice in the past. As he weighs a response to Pelosi, Trump could not go forward with a State of the Union address in Congress without her blessing. Donald Ritchie, former historian of the Senate, said that anytime a president comes to speak, it must be at the request of Congress. Trump could opt to deliver a speech somewhere else, like the Oval Office, but it would not have the same ritualistic heft. Democratic leaders did not ask the Secret Service if the agency would be able to secure the State of the Union event before sending the letter, according to a senior Homeland Security official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Pelosi’s office said Congress is already familiar with the percentage of Secret Service and Homeland Security employees who have been furloughed and working without pay. Advertisement The Secret Service starts preparing for events like these months in advance. Lawmakers struggled to find a way out of the shutdown Wednesday. Trump is demanding $5.7 billion to build a wall along the Mexican border that he says is needed on humanitarian and security grounds. But Pelosi is refusing money for the wall she views as ineffective and immoral and Democrats say they will discuss border security once the government has reopened. Some expressed little optimism. Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been working on bipartisan strategies, declared glumly: ‘‘I am running out of ideas.’’ Trump met a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday that included seven Democrats. Two people who attended the White House meeting agreed it was ‘‘productive,’’ but could not say to what extent Trump was listening or moved by the conversation. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the event candidly, said it seemed at some points as if people were talking past each other. Lawmakers talked about the shutdown’s effect on their constituents and advocated for ‘‘border security.’’ Trump and others on-and-off used the term ‘‘wall.’’ It was not clear if progress had been made, by those accounts. Meanwhile a group of Republican senators headed to the White House later Wednesday. Many Republicans were unwilling to sign on to a letter led by Graham and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., to re-open the government for three weeks while talks continue. Advertisement ‘‘Does that help the president or does that hurt the president?’’ asked Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., among those going to the White House. He has not signed the letter. ‘‘If the president saw it as a way to be conciliatory, if he thought it would help, then perhaps it’s a good idea,’’ he said. ‘‘If it’s just seen as a weakening of his position, then he probably wouldn’t do it.’’ While Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she has signed, others said GOP support was lacking. ‘‘They’re a little short on the R side,’’ said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., another leader of the effort. The House and Senate announced they are canceling next week’s planned recess if shutdown continues, which seemed likely. Some Republicans expressed concerns over the impact of the shutdown and who was getting blamed. Said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc. :”Right now, are you seeing any pressure on Democrats? I think Republicans are getting the lion’s share of the pressure.’’ He added: ‘‘The president accepted the blame so people are happy to give it to him.’’ Associated Press writers Chris Rugaber, Darlene Superville, Matthew Daly, Jonathan Lemire, Alan Fram, Colleen Long, Andrew Taylor, Laurie Kellman, Elana Schor and Ken Sweet contributed to this report<doc-sep>It seems Trump and the White House may have misjudged how Pelosi and the Democrats would respond to their line-in-the-sand refusal to reopen the government without an additional $5.7 billion in border wall funding. Rather than cave to that demand, Pelosi has brought bill after bill to the floor to reopen some or all of the government and put it on the Senate Republicans to act.<doc-sep>
In a meeting with Mr. Trump in the Situation Room Wednesday morning, seven House Republicans and seven Democrats who are members of the Problem Solvers Caucus told Mr. Trump that they were eager to have a bipartisan discussion with him about border security, among other matters, but that he needed to first sign legislation to get government funding flowing again. “Both sides listened to each other, and believe that there’s a way forward,” said Representative Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, who attended the session. He called it a “productive conversation,” but added, “It’s critical that we reopen the government first, for our safety, our security, our economy.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, called the meeting “constructive,” and said, “They listened to one another, and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants.” Another attendee who insisted on anonymity to describe the private discussion said neither side considered it a negotiating session, and Mr. Trump did not embrace the idea of reopening the government before the border barrier issue was settled. The president began the session with an extended talk about what he described as the crisis at the border, while lawmakers told him about the effects of the shutdown on their districts. In the Senate, a group of Republicans and Democrats was also working to persuade the president that no progress was possible as long as the government remained shuttered. It circulated a letter that called on Mr. Trump to drop his demand for wall funding as a condition of ending the shutdown, urging him to agree to sign a three-week stopgap government funding measure to allow time to forge a “broad bipartisan agreement” on border security spending. “We commit to working to advance legislation that can pass the Senate with substantial bipartisan support,” said the letter, which was spearheaded by Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware. “During those three weeks, we will make our best efforts following regular order in the appropriate committees and mark up bipartisan legislation relating to your request.”