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San Antonio Mayor To Attend State Of The Union Address

Joey Palacios
/
Texas Public Radio
File Photo

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg will be in Washington D.C. Tuesday to attend the second State of the Union Address delivered by President Donald Trump.

All sitting members of Congress are allowed to bring one guest to the event and Nirenberg is joining Congressman Henry Cuellar.  Nirenberg said he’s looking forward to attending and that every state of the union is historic — especially this one.

“It just so happens that we are in living some of the most impactful and unfortunately divisive times in our country’s history,” Nirenberg said. “Like most Americans, I’ll be eager to hear what’s said before and after the speech and I’ll be there without a tape delay.”

Cuellar made his decision to bring Nirenberg due to a high number of congressional bills and issues that would impact municipalities and counties. He listed the defense bill and its impact on military bases as examples.

“Cities are going to be impacted tremendously and I thought It was important to bring a mayor and I decided to go with Ron this year,” he said.

Trump was originally scheduled to deliver the address on Jan 29. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rescinded her invitation due to the partial government shutdown.

The speaker proposed the new date of Feb. 5, which the president accepted.

Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat who also represents parts of San Antonio and Bexar County, is part of the bipartisan conference committee on border security.

“I don’t know what topics he’s going to cover,” Cuellar said. “My personal opinion, he’s spending too much capital on this 14th-century solution to a 21st-century issue that we have: the (border) wall. I live on the border and I understand we’ve got to provide border security.”

Next week also marks the start of the annual “SA to DA” trip hosted by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

The local delegation of 175 people includes Nirenberg and council members John Courage, Clayton Perry, Ana Sandoval and Rebecca Viagran; incoming City Manager Erik Walsh; Paula Gold-Williams of CPS Energy; and Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff and San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President Richard Perez.

Perez said a previous SA to DC trips resulted in approval to construct a new federal courthouse in San Antonio.

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Joey Palacios can be reached at Joey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules

Joey Palacios can be reached atJoey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules