President Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony on Wednesday for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and said he would not sign the bill into law until lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act. The ceremony had been set for the Capitol, but the White House pulled it off the schedule as Trump tied one bill to the fate of another.
The housing measure passed Congress by wide bipartisan margins and was meant to increase housing supply and bring down costs. It would also limit institutional investors from purchasing certain single-family homes, making it one of the most ambitious housing bills in decades and one that Republican lawmakers had been eager to hold up as a win heading into the midterm elections.
Trump made clear he sees the delay as leverage. In a post canceling the event, he said the signing was off until the country passed what he called the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT. He also described the housing bill as less important than lower interest rates and even FISA, and said it “pales in comparison” to advancing the elections measure.
That has put him at odds with the bill’s own momentum. The House approved the housing bill Tuesday evening after the Senate had already passed it, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said the president told him he wants to see more progress on the SAVE America Act before he signs. Johnson said Trump would do it within the 10-day window a president has before a bill becomes law without a signature, while John Thune said canceling the ceremony was “his call to make” and called the housing bill “a great piece of legislation.”
The friction is hard to miss. Don Bacon said Trump strongly endorsed the housing bill a month ago, but is now “fixated” on the SAVE Act that the House has passed three times. Bacon also said the Senate bill had been improved since Trump backed it, making the reversal look less like a policy dispute than a political trade tied to another measure.
That other measure faces a steep climb. Republican leaders in the Senate have repeatedly said they do not have the votes to approve the SAVE America Act or change Senate rules to push it through, which means Trump is pressing for a bill that is stalled even as he withholds his signature from one that already cleared Congress. The housing bill is now in the president’s hands, and the unanswered question is whether he uses the full 10 days or signs it only after getting movement on the SAVE America Act.
