Democ­rats frus­trat­ed Kenyan pres­i­dent denied speech invite to Con­gress

House Democ­rats are frus­trat­ed with Speak­er Mike Johnson‘s (R‑LA) deci­sion not to invite Kenyan Pres­i­dent William Ruto to address a joint ses­sion of Con­gress, with some call­ing it a “slap in the face” to what the his­toric state vis­it sym­bol­izes.
Ruto will be the first African leader to receive a state vis­it this week since 2008, when then-Pres­i­dent George W. Bush invit­ed Ghana­ian Pres­i­dent John Kufuor to the Unit­ed States. How­ev­er, unlike sev­er­al oth­er for­eign lead­ers like Indi­an Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi and Japan­ese Prime Min­is­ter Fumio Kishi­da, Ruto will not deliv­er a speech on the House floor.
House For­eign Affairs rank­ing mem­ber Gre­go­ry Meeks (D‑NY) expressed dis­ap­point­ment with John­son on Wednes­day, say­ing after he had con­ver­sa­tions with the speak­er, he was told by John­son that “it was a mat­ter of time.”
“But when I see that we don’t have votes on a Fri­day, and we’re going to have first votes at 2:30 tomor­row, it’s clear it was time for Pres­i­dent Ruto to joint ses­sion,” Meeks told reporters, adding that the U.S. needs to be “more involved in Africa than ever.”
“There h …