WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill that he had called “a big yawn,” but the measure can become law without his signature.
Trump said in a social media post that he was withholding his signature “in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”
The housing bill was a rare instance of bipartisan agreement on major legislation in the deeply divided Congress.
Among its main provisions 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.
On June 29, Trump called the bill “a big yawn” compared to the voting legislation.
A source briefed on the matter said Trump is likely to let the housing bill become law without his signature. If so, it would automatically be enacted on Saturday.
Trump abruptly canceled a June 24 signing ceremony for the bill to pressure Republicans into passing the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and create a national voter database using state records. Trump has long falsely claimed widespread fraud in U.S. elections.
The legislation allows Republicans and Democrats in Congress and those running for seats in the Senate and House of Representatives to take some credit for acting to tame the high cost of living, an issue that ranks highest on voters’ worries in the run-up to November’s midterm elections.
But Trump’s fellow Republicans might now have a tougher time boasting that given his refusal to sign the bill into law.
“Republicans would rather make it harder to vote than easier to afford a home,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a social media post.
Republicans in particular need to show progress on the cost of living issue. Democrats have been attacking Trump for imposing tariffs on foreign imports that have raised the cost of consumer items as well as agricultural inputs.
The U.S.-Israeli war he launched on Iran on February 28 created a Mideast shipping bottleneck, raising gasoline prices for Americans. Trump has also joined congressional Republicans in refusing last year to extend a healthcare subsidy, resulting in higher medical prices and less availability of care for millions of people.
Nevertheless, Trump has called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act “unimportant” compared to the SAVE America Act. He also has referred to worries over affordability as “a hoax.”
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Doina Chiacu, Richard Cowan and Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by David Ljunggren, Deepa Babington and Chizu Nomiyama)
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