Trump refuses to sign landmark housing bill, demanding Congress pass voter ID law

Justine McDaniel, Los Angeles Times on Jun 24, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not sign the landmark housing bill Congress passed this week, in a striking decision to jeopardize a rare bipartisan success and an escalation in his battle with Senate Republicans over his favored voter ID legislation.

Trump demanded on Truth Social that Congress pass the SAVE America Act, the voting proof-of-citizenship bill, before he would consider the housing legislation. Tension between Trump and Senate Republicans had already neared a breaking point this week over the bill, which leaders have told him does not have the votes to pass.

“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,” Trump wrote online.

The president’s scuttling of a bill that could have helped his party in the midterm elections and that he could have framed as a win on affordability showed a remarkable willingness to blow up a popular measure that Republicans had worked to pass.

The housing bill, which passed with overwhelming support in the House on Tuesday evening and the Senate on Monday, aims to boost housing supply. It is the most significant legislation Congress has passed on housing in more than 30 years, and it contains a host of provisions aimed at removing regulatory barriers, improving federal programs and incentivizing new building.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday that he had already spoken to Trump about “delaying” the housing bill and had discussed making an effort to advance the SAVE America Act.

“He decided — I didn’t announce it, I wanted him to announce it — but we’re delaying this,” Johnson said. “As you know, 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 and we’re gonna go through this together.”

The voting bill is part of Trump’s effort to assert federal control over elections. Voting rights advocates say it would create unnecessary barriers to voting for citizens.

The legislation would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register, require Americans show identification when casting a ballot and require states to send voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.

The effort is rooted in Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and cheating by Democrats; he has said the bill would “guarantee” the midterms for Republicans.

Trump’s reversal on the housing bill also underscored his apparent indifference to the cost-of-living issues that voters are most focused on. He has repeatedly dismissed affordability as a “fake” concept, and inaccurately claimed on Sunday that the U.S. has the “BEST ECONOMY EVER.”

Last week, polls from NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll and Fox News poll showed record dissatisfaction with the economy among Americans and Trump’s support slipping among key demographics. Trump also lashed out about that on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, writing without evidence: “MY REAL POLL NUMBERS ARE THE HIGHEST THEY HAVE EVER BEEN. THANK YOU!!!”

Less than an hour before he posted online that he had canceled the bill signing, Trump labeled the legislation “the Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill” in a Truth Social post, and railed about the SAVE America Act.

“That is what Americans, both Dumocrats, Republicans, and everyone else, care about. Get the bad Republicans to approve it or, better yet, Terminate the Filibuster and approve it, AND EVERYTHING ELSE REPUBLICANS HAVE EVER DREAMED OF,” Trump wrote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who was one of the four bipartisan lawmakers leading the deal across the two chambers, said Wednesday morning on CNBC that Trump’s reversal “doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families and to genuine efforts to do something about it,” Warren said. “He could be over here claiming a victory lap and instead he’s saying no, no, he doesn’t want anything to do with it.”