JUST IN: Republicans Who Probably Can’t Go To Biden Joint Address Say They Don’t Want To Go To Biden Joint Address
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Several Republican lawmakers are saying they won’t attend President Joe Biden’s joint address before Congress next week — an address which most members can’t attend anyway due to Covid restrictions.
When President Biden addresses a joint session of Congress on April 28 — the first-year equivalent of a state of the union address — he will do so in front of a severely limited audience of 200, which is not even half of the number of members in both chambers. And many of those slots will go to guests who are not members.
But according to Punchbowl, some Republicans are looking to help out by declining in advance to want any of the scarce seats:
→ We asked Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), as he boarded an elevator off the Senate floor if he planned to attend: “Ha. No comment.”
→ Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) — a member of the Senate GOP leadership — on whether she’ll go to the speech: “Not that I’m aware of. I don’t think I’ll probably attend.”
→ Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.): “I don’t know the answer to that … I haven’t decided.” Q: Would you go if you could? “I went to the inaugural, I’ve been to both States of the Union so far … I don’t know if I’ll go to this one or not. We’ll see.”
→ Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.): “I’m not going to go. They announced it late and we already have plans for our week not being here.”
→ Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.): “I am not. I have a Lincoln Day dinner back at home.”
→ Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.): “No because that’s an in-district week, so I’ll be in the district.”
→ Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.): “No. … I haven’t been invited. I did attend his inauguration. I made a special trip to come out here — had to come out here two days early to get tested.”
Several Republicans told Punchbowl that they did want to attend, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is back to calling President Biden “a fine man.” And many other Republicans told Politico they would love to attend if asked, so there should be little problem filling those 200 seats.
