Trump won’t sign bipartisan housing bill in ‘protest’ of failure to pass SAVE Act
President Donald Trump says he will not sign the housing affordability act that passed Congress last month. In a Truth Social post Friday, the president said his decision is “in protest over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will become law at 11:59 p.m. ET, even without Trump’s signature — assuming Congress remains officially in session. The Constitution gives presidents 10 days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto passed legislation. If he doesn’t act within that time and Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law.
The housing act passed both houses of Congress with rare bipartisan support, and Trump even scheduled a bill-signing ceremony last month. But he canceled the ceremony at the last minute, saying he wouldn’t act on the measure until Congress passed the SAVE Act, a voting-regulation bill.
Although he had described the housing bill as the most consequential legislation to address access to housing in years, Trump more recently referred to the bill as a “yawn.”
Tying housing to the SAVE Act
Trump has long made the SAVE Act a priority for his administration, criticizing Democrats for not supporting it and Republicans for not getting it through Congress.
That didn’t change with his Truth Social post on Friday.
“THE SAVE AMERICA ACT’S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!,” Trump wrote. “If the Dumocrats, or any RINO (or worse!) working with them, do not allow a positive Vote on SAVE AMERICA, TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and pass this.”
He went on to say he’s passing the title of “dumb” on from Democrats to Republicans, saying they “allowed this horrible calamity to happen to our Party, and our Nation, itself.”
What’s in the bills?
The two bills in question — the SAVE Act and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — are not at all related. However, the president has used one as leverage to promote the other.
The housing bill aims to increase the nation’s housing supply and make homeownership more affordable. It would cut through some red tape by streamlining federal rules and permit processes so developers can start building sooner. Some provisions would make it easier to use federal land for housing, expand housing choices and make changes to federal housing programs.
Meanwhile, the SAVE America Act is, at its core, a voter ID bill.
As Straight Arrow previously reported, it would create a federal photo ID requirement for voting in federal elections. It would also require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register and would require states to submit their complete federal voter rolls to be compared with federal immigration data.
The registration requirements could create problems with people whose legal name does not match their birth certificate — married women who have taken their husband’s last name, for instance. Critics also say some people may not have access to documents proving their citizenship.
The House narrowly approved the SAVE Act, but it has stalled in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.
Round out your reading
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- Political insiders are targeting the two-party system’s grip on America.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
