As The New York Times explains, President Trump is refusing to sign a big bipartisan housing bill because he is sad that Congress won’t pass his voter suppression bill called the “SAVE Act”:
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media, referring to the elections bill.
Mr. Trump’s decision appears to be symbolic. The measure, the first major legislative effort to address the nation’s housing crisis in more than three decades, will become law at midnight even without his signature unless he vetoes it, which he did not say he would do.
But Mr. Trump’s pronouncement is still a remarkable dismissal by a president of efforts by his own party to address a major political vulnerability. And it reflected the growing rift between the president and Senate Republicans over the elections bill, which contains strict voter identification requirements and a raft of other measures the president has demanded.
To reiterate, Trump apparently isn’t planning to veto the bill, which means it will become law this weekend regardless. As POLITICO reports:
House GOP leadership had also conveyed to the White House that they had the votes to override him if he chose to veto it, and that congressional Republicans would do it, as POLITICO has reported.
There’s no way to look at this as anything other than a pointless tantrum from Trump. Not signing the bill doesn’t change anything — it just creates a bunch of bad headlines by giving the impression that Trump is opposing efforts to make home ownership more affordable. Federal courts are increasingly pushing back on Trump’s various dumb ideas and Congressional Republicans are developing the slightest hint of a spine, all of which frustrates the petulant President to no end.
The “ROAD to Housing Act” has a Colorado connection: Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) crafted three specific pieces of legislation included in the final act.
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