President Donald Trump on Wednesday canceled via Truth Social a planned signing on Capitol Hill of the much-touted bipartisan housing bill that leaders from both parties had declared a winner.
“Today’s House Meeting and Signing is canceled until such time as we can pass the much needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump posted Wednesday, a little more than an hour before he arrives at the Capitol to sign the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., both celebrated the passage of the housing package, which cleared both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support, a rare move in a bitterly divided Congress.
The measure aims to increase housing supply, make homes more affordable and increase the number of single-family homes that can be afforded. It’s a measure members of both parties are eager to campaign on before the 2026 midterms, when affordability and cost of living play a key role. Two congressional Republican leaders announced that Trump will sign the bill in Statuary Hall on Wednesday at noon ET.
But Trump downplayed the bill on the Public Truth website Wednesday morning, then followed up by canceling its signature altogether, saying he wouldn’t act on the legislation until Congress approved a controversial ballot measure known as the SAVE America Act.
The SAVE America Act is intended to reduce non-citizen voting in US elections – which is rare and of course illegal in federal contests – and imposes voter ID laws across the country. The House passed the SAVE America Act in February, and the measure is popular among Republicans. But without Democratic support, the GOP falls far short of the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation because of the Senate filibuster rule.
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on June 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Trump is leaning on Republicans to end the filibuster or add legislation to another major bill. On Wednesday afternoon, he will meet in the Capitol with Senate Republicans, and the signing of the housing bill would precede that lunch.
Trump, notably, was invited to meet with GOP senators by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., as opposed to Thune and GOP leaders, as usual. MS NOW reported Wednesday that Trump was still expected to attend the Senate luncheon, citing a person familiar with the plans.
The president has 10 days to sign or veto the bill, giving Congress less time to pass the SAVE America Act, which is widely opposed by Democrats and voting rights advocates, before the clock runs out.
“It’s a good piece of legislation that increases the supply of housing and the availability of credit to afford housing, so it’s an issue of affordability, and ultimately I hope he finds a way to sign it,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol after Trump canceled.
Johnson, at a House GOP press conference Wednesday, told reporters that the only way to get the SAVE America Act through Congress is to use budget reconciliation — a congressional process that allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster. It can only be used for expenses and budget estimates and allows for controversial legislation to be passed along party lines in a narrowly divided chamber.
But there are serious questions about whether an election bill like the SAVE America Act would qualify for reconciliation under Senate rules. And the reconciliation process can be long and difficult.
“He’s very focused on the SAVE America Act, as most Americans are,” Johnson said. “The only way, I think, to do that … you have to put it in a reconciliation bill.
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and is leading the House housing bill, told CNBC on Wednesday that Trump “picked a date, and now he’s picked to change the date. So we’re going to let him do that, and we’ll see what he decides to do.”
Wednesday was the second time in a week that Trump has snubbed congressional Republican priorities at the last minute by demanding passage of the SAVE America Act.
Last week, Trump went on TruthSocial and ordered Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the president’s permanent nominee for director of national intelligence, to appear during a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing before it began.
Senate Republicans were trying to fast-track Clayton’s nomination to prevent Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, from becoming acting DNI. Democrats and some Republicans opposed Pulte in the role, citing his willingness to attack Trump’s opponents while running a real estate company.
Trump’s tapping of Pulte also derailed negotiations to expand the foreign surveillance program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expired earlier this month. Democrats have vowed to oppose any extension as long as Pulte is in the DNI role.
“[T]o add a little intrigue but, for the good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA unless the SAVE AMERICA ACT goes along with it,” Trump said on June 17, adding to the already complicated negotiations.
Trump’s latest moves have angered some members of Congress and set the stage for a tense meeting on the Hill on Wednesday.
Democrats, on the other hand, argue that his passage of the housing bill is evidence that he does not care about the cost of living of the average American.
“This is absurd, without whatever he wants to do is a complete disregard for the cost to American families and a real effort to do something about it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who co-sponsored the housing bill in the Senate, during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
“He could be out here trying to get a victory lap. And instead he’s saying, no, no, he doesn’t want anything to do. It’s because he really doesn’t care about American families,” Warren said.
–Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.
