President Donald Trump said Friday he would not sign Congress’ much-awaited bipartisan housing affordability legislation — protesting lawmakers’ inaction on his preferred elections bill, the SAVE America Act.
The House formally transmitted the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to Trump last week, setting in motion a 10-day period after which the bill would be enacted into law absent any action from the president. Trump did not indicate plans to veto the legislation, which is expected to become law at midnight between Friday and Saturday.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted Friday morning on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump last month abruptly called off signing the landmark housing legislation in part over his dissatisfaction with Congress’ progress on the unrelated voter registration bill. On Friday, the president reiterated that he blamed lawmakers from his own party for holding up the SAVE America Act.
“I will no longer be able to call [the Democrats] Dumocrats again!” Trump’s post reads. “The title of DUMB will revert to the Republicans who allowed this horrible calamity to happen to our Party, and our Nation, itself!”
A White House spokesperson declined to provide additional comment. Speaker Mike Johnson and House GOP leadership, along with White House officials, all worked over the last 10 days to try to persuade Trump not to veto the bill, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations who were granted anonymity to speak openly.
Johnson said in an interview shortly before he officially transmitted the bill to the White House that he was still trying to persuade Trump to sign the legislation. But, he added that Trump would not veto it.
House GOP leadership had also conveyed to the White House that they had the votes to override him if he chose to veto it, and that congressional Republicans would do it, as POLITICO has reported.
Despite Trump’s apparent disinterest in the bill, the legislation marks one of the most significant bipartisan achievements during a session of Congress marked by gridlock and chaos.
The legislation passed by overwhelming margins in both the Senate and House following monthslong negotiations among the two chambers, White House and industry. Lawmakers on both sides are touting the legislation as a direct response to voters’ affordability concerns ahead of the midterm elections.
The law contains almost 60 provisions, including the first-ever restrictions on the ability of large Wall Street investors to buy up single-family homes. Trump made the provision a condition for his support of the bill. The measure would prohibit large, institutional investors from owning more than 350 single-family homes.
The housing law includes a wide range of other measures, including language that aims to eliminate red tape for community lenders, leverage federal funding to incentivize communities to build additional housing and make it easier to build manufactured homes in an effort to boost supply and cut some costs.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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