President Donald Trump on Wednesday canceled a planned signing ceremony for the landmark housing affordability bill that passed Congress by wide bipartisan margins on Tuesday night, saying he won’t sign the housing legislation into law until lawmakers pass an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.
Trump was set to sign the bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, during a signing ceremony Wednesday at the Capitol. The bill, the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades, seeks to increase housing supply and bring down costs, including by limiting institutional investors from purchasing certain single-family homes.
“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.
Under the Constitution, a bill that has passed both chambers of Congress automatically becomes law if the president doesn’t sign or veto it within 10 days, excluding Sundays, as long as lawmakers remain in session, CBS reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Trump told him he wants to see more progress on passing the SAVE America Act before he signs the housing bill.
Overwhelming Bipartisan Support
“He has a window of time before he has to sign a bill, and he’s going to use a little bit more of that window of time,” Johnson said. “He’ll do it within that 10-day window.”
Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had both celebrated the passage of the housing package, which cleared both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support.
The SAVE America Act’s goal is to cut down on noncitizen voting in U.S. elections, according to its backers. That happens rarely and is already illegal in federal contests. It seeks to impose nationwide voter-ID laws.
While the measure is broadly popular among Republicans, they will need Democratic support because the GOP is well short of the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation because of the Senate filibuster rule.
