Trump Won’t Commit to Signing Housing Bill He Called “a Big Yawn”

Trump said the 21st Century Road to Housing Act is “unimportant” compared to the SAVE America Act.

President Donald Trump speaks before signing a presidential memo to the EPA on pollution control in vehicles, in the Oval Office of the White House.

“It’s a yawn,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. “Compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.” Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

President Donald Trump said on Monday afternoon that he won’t commit to signing the bipartisan housing bill that Congress passed after months of backroom negotiating and tension between the chambers — telling reporters that he’s bored by the bill to address rising housing costs.

“It’s a yawn,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “Compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

Trump canceled the long-anticipated signing ceremony for the 21st Century Road to Housing Act last week to use the bill as leverage to whip votes for the voting bill, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID at the polls.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has argued that he doesn’t have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, nor the votes to abolish the filibuster — another frequent demand by Trump.

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The president said on Wednesday that the housing bill “hasn’t been sent” to him yet, though Speaker Mike Johnson said he had sent the bill to the White House earlier in the day.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill (R-Arkansas), a sponsor of the House version of the bill, seemed unsure whether Trump would sign the measure when asked Monday, telling reporters simply that he “look[s] forward to it.”

But Trump openly criticized the bill, which would in part limit large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, for giving Democrats “things that I wouldn’t necessarily agree to.”

He also chastised the handful of Republican holdouts on the SAVE America Act.

“The only people that would vote against that are people that are going to cheat in an election,” Trump said.