House speaker says event would place an undue burden on the departments responsible for security, as a result of the shutdown

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has asked Donald Trump to delay, or deliver in writing, his State of the Union address scheduled for 29 January as long as the government remains partially shut down.

The request came as the record-long shutdown dragged into a 26th day with little sign of progress.

In a letter to the president, Pelosi said the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, both of which are responsible for coordinating and implementing security at the event, have been “hamstrung” by the funding lapses.

“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government reopens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has reopened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to Congress on January 29,” Pelosi wrote in the letter.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans accused Pelosi of playing politics with the address, which, should it proceed without a funding resolution, could be the first time a president has delivered a State of the Union while parts of the government remained closed.

“It’s not a security issue,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters. “It’s politics and she knows it.”

It was unclear on Wednesday afternoon what would happen if Trump rejected Pelosi’s request to reschedule the speech or submit it in writing.

The address to a joint session of Congress gathers leaders from all three branches of government in the House chamber. With so many officials in one room, the event takes weeks to coordinate and involves law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level.

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Traditionally, one member of the cabinet is selected to be the “designated survivor” and does not attend in the event a catastrophe incapacitates the president, vice-president and all other officials in the line of succession.

“Both the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded for 26 days now – with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs,” Pelosi wrote.

Although George Washington and John Adams delivered the State of the Union in person, presidents for over a century delivered it via writing. It wasn’t until 1913 that President Woodrow Wilson began the practice of delivering a speech to Congress as a way of rallying the nation behind his agenda. The last time a president delivered the State of the Union in writing was in 1981 when Jimmy Carter did so days before Ronald Reagan took office.

Hours after she was elected speaker on 3 January, Pelosi invited Trump to deliver his speech to a joint session of Congress on 29 January. Since then, the shutdown has stretched into a fourth week while the White House is warning that the funding lapse could have a sustained negative impact on economic growth as nearly 800,000 federal employees are furloughed or working without pay.

Trump has demanded that Democrats, newly empowered in the House of Representatives, designate $5.7bn to build a wall along the southern border as part of legislation to fund the government. Democrats have refused and urged the president to reopen the government and allow the parties to separately negotiate their disagreements over border security.

The House has passed bills that would fund parts of the government departments but the Republican-controlled Senate has refused to take up the measures. Negotiations between the White House and Democrats have stalled.

The last time a State of the Union address was moved was in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan postponed the speech after the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He instead addressed the nation from the Oval Office that evening and delivered his State of the Union speech the following week.