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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will not sign a bipartisan housing bill until Republican lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act – critical election integrity legislation that would codify voter ID.
“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” the president wrote on Wednesday on Truth Social.
The president had been scheduled to sign the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.” The legislation, once signed, will prevent large investors from buying up single-family houses and expedite housing construction by cutting regulatory red tape, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The president’s refusal to sign the bill comes amid a months-long pressure campaign he has waged on Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate who have refused to pass the SAVE America Act.
The election integrity legislation has remained a priority for the Trump administration, even amid the war with Iran over the past three months.
“The SAVE Act is absolutely still a priority for this president and the administration,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this spring.
She continued, “The focus, of course, of much of the president’s time right now is on ensuring the success of Operation Epic Fury. But the president can walk and chew gum at the same time, and he’s very much continuing to focus on the issues that matter here at home for the American people, including the passage of the SAVE Act, including bringing down the cost of living.”
The SAVE America Act has not been able to survive on the Senate floor, which has prompted President Trump to pressure Republicans to “nuke” the filibuster, arguing that the GOP would “rue the day” they failed to do so.
As reported by RSBN, the filibuster stands in the way of the Senate holding a simple-majority vote on the bill – the only way the SAVE America Act could pass the chamber. The president has called on Republicans to terminate the filibuster multiple times.
On Tuesday, following the president’s announcement that he would cancel the signing of the bipartisan housing bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would try to push the SAVE America Act through a budget reconciliation bill, The Hill reported.