The House has officially shipped a colossal bipartisan housing package to President Donald Trump, and lawmakers are hoping that, at the very least, he doesn\u2019t veto it.
\nTrump was supposed to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act last week, but his last-minute decision to ghost the signing ceremony with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put into question whether the bill was dead.
\nHis refusal to sign the bill, which passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in both chambers, was to leverage the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which doesn\u2019t currently have the votes to succeed in the Senate.
\nWARREN TELLS TRUMP TO \u2018SIGN THE DAMN BILL\u2019 AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON<\/p>\n
Trump appears to be in no hurry to sign the bill, despite Republicans who are hungry for a win in the affordability fight ahead of the midterm elections.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s so unimportant \u2026 compared to the SAVE America Act,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. \u201cI think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It\u2019s saving America from crooked elections.\u201d
\n\u201cHere\u2019s what I would like to sign, much more than a bill that \u2014 big deal, it\u2019s a yawn,\u201d he continued. \u201cSome people say it\u2019s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.\u201d
\nGOP INFIGHTING OVER TRUMP\u2019S VOTER ID BILL ERUPTS AS TOP SENATOR CALLS STRATEGY \u2018FANTASY\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s legislation that is loaded with nearly 60 provisions from both sides of the aisle in both chambers that\u2019s designed to make it easier for homes to be built and for younger Americans to buy their first home. It also includes a ban on hedge funds buying up housing stock that Trump pushed Congress to include during the State of the Union earlier this year.
\nSen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the architects behind the bill in the upper chamber alongside Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., charged that Congress handed the bill to Trump \u201con a silver platter.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen you ask me what happens next, if he cared about the American people, he\u2019d have already signed the damned thing, and we\u2019d be underway,\u201d Warren said on WCVB\u2019s \u201cOn the Record\u201d on Sunday.
\nBut Trump doesn\u2019t have to put his signature on the bill for it to become law.
\nIRATE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE TRUMP OF HANDING DEMOCRATS A WIN AFTER BLOWING UP HOUSING PACKAGE<\/p>\n
The Constitution grants presidents the ability to veto a bill within 10 days of it being transferred over to the White House. In that scenario, Congress could override a veto of the housing package.
\nIt\u2019s happened before under the Trump administration. In early 2021, Congress overrode Trump\u2019s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act \u2014 a massive Pentagon funding authorization package that some House Republicans are trying to use as a vehicle to pass the SAVE America Act.
\nBut during that 10-day period, if Trump doesn\u2019t sign the bill, it would automatically become law. That\u2019s unless Congress completely adjourns, in which case a \u201cpocket veto\u201d could happen. The Senate is currently in recess and the House is scheduled to leave town by week\u2019s end, but neither count as a full adjournment.
\nJohnson, who spent the last few days meeting with Trump at the White House about the housing bill and the SAVE America Act, said: \u201cI hope he does sign it.\u201d
\n\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s still law,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll still celebrate it, but he\u2019s trying to make a point, and I think he\u2019s making it very effectively. And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don\u2019t get that right, everybody\u2019s concerned about what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"