http://thehill.com/homenews/house/231915-top-black-dems-to-skip-netanyahu-speechBy Mike Lillis - 02/05/15 03:53 PM EST
Leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are lining up to skip a coming speech by the prime minister of Israel.
Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon, and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the chairman of the CBC, said they won't attend Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech before Congress to protest Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) decision to invite the prime minister without first consulting President Obama, according to The Associated Press.
"I think it’s an affront to the president and the State Department what the speaker did,” Lewis told the AP.
The lawmakers emphasized that they are not organizing a formal boycott, but had made the personal decision to steer clear of the speech.
"The only thing I can control is my attendance," Butterfield told the AP.
Brenda Jones, a spokeswoman for Lewis, confirmed that the lawmaker is not planning to attend the speech, adding that the decision was not a boycott.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she plans to attend Netanyahu's address next month, but she made clear that she hopes the event is canceled — and left plenty of wiggle room to skip the speech herself.
“As of now it is my intention to go,” she said during a press briefing in the Capitol. “It’s still my hope that the event will not take place.”
Pelosi also emphasized that members are often too busy to attend addresses from heads of state, saying the speeches are "not a high-priority item" for lawmakers "here doing their work."
"I don't think anybody should use the word boycott in this," she said. "Members will go or they won't go, as they usually go or don't go."
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) will also forgo the speech, the AP reported.
