Trump cancels signing of bipartisan housing bill, demanding voter-ID provision

President Donald Trump on Wednesday canceled via Truth Social a scheduled Capitol Hill signing of a landmark bipartisan housing bill that leaders in both parties had heralded as a win.

"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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump posted Wednesday, a little over an hour before he was due at the Capitol to sign the bill into law.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., both celebrated the passage of the housing package, which cleared both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support, an unusual feat in the sharply divided Congress.

The measure aims to increase housing supply, make homes more affordable and cap the amount of single family homes private equity can purchase. It's a measure that members of both parties are eager to campaign on ahead of the 2026 midterms, in which affordability and cost-of-living issues are playing a key role. The two congressional Republican leaders announced that Trump would sign the bill in Statuary Hall on Wednesday at noon ET.

But Trump downplayed the bill in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, then followed up canceling its signing altogether, saying he won't act on the legislation until Congress approves the controversial election measure known as the SAVE America Act.

The SAVE America Act is meant to cut down on noncitizen voting in U.S. elections — which happens rarely and is already illegal in federal contests — and impose nationwide voter-ID laws. The House passed the SAVE America Act in February, and the measure is broadly popular among Republicans. But without Democratic support, the GOP is well short of the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation due to the Senate filibuster rule.

Trump has leaned on Republicans to abolish the filibuster or tack the legislation onto another, larger bill. On Wednesday afternoon, he's due to meet at the Capitol with Senate Republicans, and the housing bill signing was to precede that lunch.

Trump, notably, was invited to meet with GOP senators by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., as opposed to Thune and GOP leaders, as is customary. MS NOW reported Wednesday that Trump was still expected to attend the Senate lunch, citing a person familiar with the plans.

The president has 10 days to sign or veto a bill, giving Congress little time to pass the SAVE America Act, which is widely opposed by Democrats and voting-rights advocates, before the clock runs out.

"It's a great piece of legislation that increases the supply of housing and the availability of credit to afford homes, so it's an affordability issue, and eventually I hope he finds a way to sign it," Thune told reporters at the Capitol after Trump canceled.

Johnson, at a House GOP press conference Wednesday, told reporters that the only likely way to get the SAVE America Act through Congress is by using budget reconciliation — a congressional process that allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster. It can only be used for spending and budgetary measures and allows for passing controversial legislation along party lines in the narrowly divided chamber.

But there are serious questions about whether an election bill such as the SAVE America Act would qualify for reconciliation under the Senate rules. And the reconciliation process can be long and grueling.

"He's laser focused on SAVE America Act, as most common-sense Americans are," Johnson said. "The only path, I think, to get that done ... you have to put it on a reconciliation bill.

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and led the housing bill in the House, told CNBC on Wednesday, Trump "picked the day, and now he's chosen to change the day. So we'll let him do that, and we'll see what he decides to do."

Wednesday was the second time in a week that Trump has thwarted congressional Republican priorities at the last minute by demanding passage of the SAVE America Act.

Last week, Trump took to TruthSocial and directed Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the president's permanent pick to be the director of national intelligence, not to appear for a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing hours before it was to begin.

Senate Republicans were attempting to fast track Clayton's nomination to prevent Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head, from becoming acting DNI. Democrats and some Republicans opposed Pulte for the role, citing his willingness to attack Trump opponents while at the helm of the housing agency.

Trump's tapping of Pulte also derailed negotiations on an extension of a foreign surveillance provision, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lapsed earlier this month. Democrats have vowed to oppose any extension as long as Pulte is in the DNI role.

"[T]o add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it," Trump posted on June 17, adding to a wrinkle to already complicated negotiations.

Trump's recent moves have angered some congressional Republicans and set the stage for what could be a tense meeting on the Hill on Wednesday.

Democrats, meanwhile, argue his punting on the housing bill is evidence he doesn't care about the cost-of-living for the average American.

"This just doesn't make any sense, other than whatever it is he wants to do is a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families and to genuine efforts to do something about it," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who co-led the housing bill in the Senate, said during an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

"He could be over here trying to claim a victory lap. And instead he's saying, no, no, he doesn't want anything to do it. It's because he really doesn't care about American families," Warren said.

—Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.