President Trump is huddling with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday afternoon to untangle a legislative standoff that has stalled major housing legislation and thrown Congress into the kind of procedural chaos that has become Trump's calling card in his second term.
The White House meeting comes after Trump abruptly canceled the signing ceremony Wednesday for a housing bill that had sailed through Congress with broad bipartisan support. His reason: the Senate has not yet passed the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to present additional identification and proof of citizenship at the ballot box.
Trump told Senate Republicans on Wednesday that nothing else moves forward until they pass the election integrity bill. The message was unambiguous. "The President had one, one clear message: SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act," said Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, adding that Trump believes the voting measure is "exponentially more important than the housing bill."
The standoff has created an unusual alliance of friction within Republican ranks. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a hardline Trump ally, has been blocking all House legislation from advancing until the SAVE Act passes. One version of the bill cleared the House, but it stalled in the Senate when Trump's advisers told him frankly that it lacks the votes to become law.
Speaker Johnson has tried to position himself as the bridge builder. He defended Trump's decision to freeze the housing bill signing, telling reporters the president was making a strategic "point." Johnson expressed confidence Trump will ultimately sign the housing measure within the 10-day constitutional window, even if the timeline remains unclear.
"This is how the process plays out," Johnson said Wednesday. "Sometimes it's slow, it's a grind, it's a deliberative legislative body." The speaker is expected to push Trump on a path forward when they meet Thursday in the Oval Office, though Johnson's leverage appears limited.
The speaker has suggested using budget reconciliation, a parliamentary maneuver that would allow Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE Act with only a simple majority. But skepticism runs deep even among voting rights advocates like Luna and other supporters of the bill, who question whether reconciliation can properly accommodate the measure's requirements.
This is not Trump's first attempt to weaponize the legislative process over the SAVE America Act. In March, he declared he would not sign any legislation until Congress passed it, though he has since signed several bills into law without the SAVE Act reaching his desk.
The housing bill's fate remains in constitutional limbo. If Trump neither signs nor vetoes it, it becomes law automatically after 10 days. Johnson predicted the president will sign it, but with Trump's negotiating style, nothing is certain until the moment it actually happens.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Trump has found his leverage, and he's not afraid to use it, even if it means burning a bipartisan housing victory just to send a message about voter ID requirements."
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