Trump refuses to sign housing bill; Rep. French Hill celebrates its passage unaware of decision

Signing Canceled Over Voter ID Demands

President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing of a bipartisan housing bill on Wednesday, insisting he would not make it law without his voter ID legislation, the SAVE America Act. However, not everyone on Capitol Hill received the message that the housing reform effort had failed.

Rep. French Hill's Premature Celebration

Arkansas Representative French Hill was already holding a news conference when Trump axed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Hill unknowingly celebrated a dead proposal that Republicans had hoped would bolster their reelection efforts ahead of November.

Standing beside House Speaker Mike Johnson, Hill said it had been his "top goal" to lower the cost of housing.

"This bill does that, so I'm proud of the work that both chambers have struggled through," Hill said Wednesday morning. "But it's successful today, and I'm proud of the work of the House and Senate to get people to 'yes'."

What the Housing Bill Would Have Done

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was drafted to address the U.S. housing crisis, which has resulted in:

• Bottlenecked housing supply
• Stalled family growth
• Surged home and rental prices nationwide

The bill would have:

• Funneled resources toward increasing housing supply
• Streamlined environmental reviews
• Required the Department of Housing and Urban Development to address red-tape issues related to zoning and land-use that have historically posed barriers to housing development

"This is a very rare occurrence to have successive bipartisan votes across both chambers on versions of this bill, and it finally seems to be reaching the finish line," Francis Torres, housing and infrastructure director at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told TIME earlier this week. "This bill is the most serious that Congress has gotten about housing reforms in a generation."

Bipartisan Support, but No Signature

The House passed the bill by a vote of 358–32 on Tuesday. The day before, the Senate had passed it by a measure of 85–5. It needed only the president's signature to become law—but that will not happen unless Congress agrees to his unpopular voter ID demands.

The SAVE America Act

The Save America Act sparked nationwide controversy earlier this year, particularly over a detail that would have made it more difficult for married women to vote. The backlash on Capitol Hill was severe enough to stall efforts to fund Homeland Security for several months. Republicans eventually had to abandon the package to end the congressional gridlock.

The Save America Act proposes numerous amendments to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, including:

• Abolishing mail-in voting
• Requiring voters to bring proof of citizenship and proof of residency to register
• Requiring voter ID
• Mandating voter roll purges every 30 days—an enormous bureaucratic task that would place undue burdens on local election officials
• Adding a federal law to prevent men from competing in women's sports
• Adding a ban on "transgender mutilation surgery"

Editor's Pick: Dems Celebrate Housing Bill: "We Finally Did Something"

GOP's Midterm Strategy: Fearmongering

In other political news, state and national Republican groups have developed a new midterm strategy after the left's big wins in New York City on Tuesday: fearmongering about communism and the death of the nuclear family. (Observers note this is not a new strategy at all.)

The chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Representative Richard Hudson, reportedly compared the primary wins to "a Bolshevik revolution" on Wednesday in a meeting with GOP House members. The NRCC also made a slightly cringy X post referring to the progressive winners as "America-hating Socialists."