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As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his latest State of the Union address, it stands to reason that there are Republican members of Congress who aren’t eager to hear the Democrat’s remarks. But more notable are the GOP lawmakers who’d like to prevent the speech from even happening.
Last week, for example, Rep. Scott Perry raised the specter of rescinding Biden’s invitation. “He comes at the invitation of Congress, and Republicans are in control of the House,” the Pennsylvania Republican told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “There’s no reason that we need to invite him to get more propaganda.”
Exactly one week later, Sen. Joni Ernst sat down with the same Fox host and pushed a related message.
“It is unfathomable that we do not have a national security strategy from the president, nor do we have his budget for the upcoming fiscal year,” the Iowa Republican said. “And because of that, we want to stop him from actually delivering the State of the Union.”
When the senator referenced “we,” she was apparently referring to proponents of her legislation on the matter. The Washington Examiner reported last week:
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced a bill on Monday that would block President Joe Biden from giving a State of the Union address if he doesn’t submit his budget and national security proposal on time. Congressional Republicans are backing the Send Us Budget Materials & International Tactics In Time, or SUBMIT IT, Act, which would bar leadership from inviting the president to give the State of the Union address until Congress has received his budget and national security strategy.
Part of what makes all of this odd is the fact that the White House could submit budget blueprints and national security strategies to Capitol Hill, but congressional Republicans would probably ignore them. There’s a congressional maxim that’s been around for a while related to the budget process: The president proposes, Congress disposes. With this in mind, Ernst is effectively saying, “Give us a budget that we’ll quickly discard or you won’t get a SOTU invitation.”
Another relevant angle is the fact that these circumstances are becoming increasingly common. As we discussed last week, prominent figures on the right raised the prospect of denying State of the Union addresses to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama during their respective presidencies, and apparently the idea continues to linger.
But what I find especially odd about all of this is these Republicans’ motivations. Is the GOP really that concerned that Biden’s State of the Union remarks will go well?
For the record, Congress isn’t required to welcome a sitting president onto the House floor to deliver an annual national address. According to the Constitution, the president “shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union.” For much of American history, this led the White House to deliver a written report to lawmakers.
But with the advent of radio and television, nearly every president since Woodrow Wilson has taken advantage of the national platform a State of the Union address provides.
It’s a platform that some Republicans would apparently prefer to deny the Democratic incumbent.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.