WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence was forced to postpone a high-profile speech in Washington on Monday because of travel problems as a severe summer storm swept over the region.
The Heritage Foundation, where Pence was to deliver the address Monday evening, announced that it had been put off.
“Due to unexpected severe weather and flight delays, the program with Vice President Pence is postponed for this evening,” the foundation said in a statement. “We are working to reschedule for a new date and time and will follow up as soon it is confirmed.”
The speech was notable because it was to take place a day before former President Donald Trump is to return to Washington for the first time since he left office, and speak to supporters. Both men have been hinting that they may run for president in 2024.
The bad weather also prompted the Senate to delay a procedural vote on a bill to bolster the U.S. domestic semiconductor industry after flight disruptions prevented some senators from returning to Washington on Monday.
Pence is still expected to speak Tuesday morning at the Young America’s Foundation’s annual National Conservative Student Conference in Washington about the future of the conservative movement, according to a foundation spokeswoman, Kara Zupkus.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump plans to deliver the keynote address at the “America First Agenda Summit,” hosted by a nonprofit group formed by several of his former Cabinet officers and White House aides.
In the Heritage Foundation speech, Pence had been expected to outline the “Freedom Agenda” that his Advancing American Freedom advocacy group released in March. He was to present it as a road map for the conservative movement on economic, cultural and other issues that can serve as a platform if he runs in 2024.
He was also expected to emphasize the importance of looking forward — a dig at Trump’s obsession with re-litigating the 2020 presidential election he lost.
“Some people may choose to focus on the past — but I believe conservatives must focus on the future,” Pence was expected to say, according to the excerpts. “If we do, we won’t just win the next election, we will change the course of American history for generations.”
