Trump cancels signing of housing bill until Save America Act passed

US President Donald Trump on ⁠Wednesday cancelled ⁠a planned signing of ⁠bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up the construction and availability of more affordable housing in an effort to pressure fellow Republicans to pass a long-stalled package of voting restrictions that has shown the limits of his power.

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately ‌needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, referring to a measure that failed in the Senate and which critics say is an effort to suppress voting in Democratic-leaning communities.

The Save America Act, if passed, would mean voters would need to show proof of citizenship like a passport when registering to vote, and photo identification to cast a ballot.

The housing bill was passed by the US House of Representatives on Tuesday in a 358-32 vote, after being passed by the Senate on Monday ⁠by a vote of 85-5.

Passage of such major legislation in the ‌deeply divided Congress has been rare.

The move comes as the high cost of living in the US, ‌with the inflation rate rising significantly during Trump’s second term in office, ⁠is ranked ⁠as a top worry by voters in public opinion polls.

Among the main provisions of ‌the bill are waiving or speeding up environmental reviews for home construction projects and placing a ‌cap on ‌the number of already constructed single-family homes that big Wall Street ‌investors can own.