President Donald Trump jolted Republicans during a fiery appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scrapping a housing bill signing ceremony and clashing behind closed doors with a party rebel who challenged him over the Iran war.
Trump had been expected to sign the bipartisan housing affordability package at a high-profile event, giving Republicans a chance to tout action on one of voters' biggest economic concerns ahead of November's midterm elections.
But the president abruptly cancelled the ceremony two hours beforehand, saying he would not sign the bill until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, his long-sought package of voting restrictions.
"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 posted on his Truth Social platform.
The election measure would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot. Democrats denounce it as an assault on voting rights, while Trump claims it is needed to protect elections.
The bill has already stalled in the Senate, where Republican leaders have warned Trump that it lacks the support needed to overcome the chamber's rules.
Trump, who still regularly repeats the false claim that he won the 2020 election, nevertheless kept pressing the issue as he went ahead with a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans.
The gathering turned combative when Trump challenged senators who had voted the previous day to rebuke him over the Iran war, according to U.S. media reports.
Four Republicans joined Democrats in adopting a largely symbolic resolution directing Trump to end hostilities with Iran or seek congressional authorization to continue them.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana later told reporters that Trump asked why any Republican would support the measure.
"I stood and said, 'You have not told the American people what's going on. It was supposed to last four weeks; it's lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved and I want to know what's going on,'" Cassidy said, according to The Hill and CNN.
Cassidy lost a primary election in Louisiana in May to a Trump-backed Republican, meaning he is ineligible for re-election in November.
After leaving the meeting, Trump still appeared irritated, telling reporters: "I don't like a few people, but that's okay -- I think you know who they are."
The war powers vote came as Trump tries to turn a preliminary agreement with Iran into a final settlement after months of conflict that rattled global energy markets and exposed rifts within his own party.
As he walked into the lunch with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Trump ignored questions about whether he would sign the housing bill and instead volunteered that the Middle East "war is going very well" and that "Iran is making very big concessions."
The housing bill passed Congress with broad bipartisan support and had been promoted by Republicans as a rare achievement on affordability.
It is aimed at boosting housing supply, easing construction rules and expanding access to home ownership as high rents, elevated mortgage costs and a shortage of homes weigh on Americans.
Trump had previously backed the package, which offered him a chance to highlight efforts to lower living costs against a backdrop of persistent inflation driven partly by the Iran war.
But on Wednesday he dismissed it as being of "minor importance" and said it "pales in comparison" to passing the SAVE America Act.
Trump's refusal to sign may prove largely symbolic. Under the U.S. Constitution, a bill becomes law after 10 days if the president neither signs nor vetoes it while Congress is in session.
Last week, Trump also cancelled the Senate confirmation hearing for his nominee for director of national intelligence, saying the election bill should take priority.
Supporters say the SAVE America Act would strengthen election security.
But voter fraud is exceedingly rare, and opponents warn that it would mostly burden minority voters, married women and others less likely to have easy access to the required documents.
© 2026 AFP
48 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
MAGA senators don't seem to want to just sign over their souls to the King. There may be hope yet!!!
TaiwanIsNotChina
The National Emergency is a president who will grasp at anything to cling to power.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Trump should not be afraid of people voting by mail as he does.
plasticmonkey
Because addressing a non-existent problem (and creating a new one) is so much more important than addressing the cost of living problem.
Underworld
The GOP are so unpopular that they need to make voting harder.
SeekShinJitsu
Trump hating people who confront his lies and expose his incompetence. What else is new.
bass4funk
it is a problem, that's why Trump blocked it, good that he did.
Underworld
bass4funk
Because addressing a non-existent problem (and creating a new one) is so much more important than addressing the cost of living problem.
Nope. It’s not. Which is why it doesn’t have support in the Senate.
Data from Utah’s review of over 2 million registered voters found only one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting.
wallace
Trump said he would solve the homelessness problem, but has not to date.
Affordable housing is needed.
bass4funk
It is, especially when the majority of Americans want the Save Act passed, I'm not talking about the Republicans in the Senate and it's always the same 4 Dems ( who claim they're Republicans) who vote against it, I get it if it was it predominantly replicant issue according to the voters, but it's not, especially when you have over 70% of democrat voters wanting it.
Well, if we're not allowed to see the books, particularly in Blue states concerning voter registration ID, then it's hard to say who cheated, so Democrats can say all day long they don't cheat, but if you have a judge that blocks viewing of the voter registration books, then there is no way of knowing, and no one stupid to just take their word for him, this is why it's on appeal.
stormcrow
But the Big Beautiful Bill was supposed to Make America Great Again.
WTF happened?!
Oops I Posted Again
There’s a lot about Trump that I disagree with, but we need to have voter identification.
Underworld
bass4funk
Data from Utah’s review of over 2 million registered voters found only one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting.
Many studies have shown that non-citizens don’t vote. Which is why this is a voter suppression act that doesn’t solve any problems.
And I find it strange that you are against weaponization of gun data but have no qualms about weaponizing voter data…
bass4funk
Most show that there is, this is why both sides poll so high in wanting voters ID
plasticmonkey
Show us a study that shows non-citizens are voting in elections.
Underworld
bass4funk
Many studies have shown that non-citizens don’t vote. Which is why this is a voter suppression act that doesn’t solve any problems.
Citation please.
bass4funk
-Virginia: One of the most-cited. A 2017 Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF)/Virginia Voter Alliance report (drawing on state data) claimed 5,556 non-citizens removed from rolls (2011–May 2017), with 1,852 having cast ballots and a cumulative 7,474 illegal ballots over longer periods (some dating to the 1980s). Virginia has continued removals (e.g., thousands more in recent years). Critics note disputes over accuracy and that many may have naturalized later.
-Texas: In 2025, the Secretary of State’s office identified 2,724 potential noncitizen registration records out of 18 million registered voters (using SAVE). Earlier efforts had flagged thousands, with some votes noted in subsets.
and then there is my former home state of California, which basically takes the cake, a state that gives ballots to everyone, regardless of having ID or whether you are illegal or not, and they issued drivers licenses regardless of wherever you are from.
HopeSpringsEternal
Trump's showing more leadership, this means throwing some elbows during debates and much horse trading, so a far cry from Biden Admin, where Biden was usually asleep somewhere as the unelected insiders ran amuck
Trump's pushing for reconciliation 3.0, so just like the first two reconciliation bills, it's never easy to 'make the sausage', lots of pork needed, especially as every Senator wants something for $their constituents
Underworld
bass4funk
So, not really a rigorous study.
The key word here is “potential”. This isn’t actual non-citizens, it’s possible non-citizens. And if they were, it’s 0.015% of the roll.
plasticmonkey
In other words, not a valid study.
Potential. Weak sauce.
Was this a study you conducted? Do you have the data?
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternal
Because he doesn’t have the votes. But, sorry, this isn’t reconciliation.
iraira
Sorry bass, a majority of Americans do not know whether they want the save America act passed, which means that the problem and remedy by the passage of the act have not been convincingly explained to the public.
(https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/07/poll-trump-save-america-act-voters-uncertain-00908224)
XCAndtheband
Except this organization has consistently been shown to be using bad data (which often includes citizens), exaggerating or misrepresenting numbers, and generally just sensationalizing a problem that doesn’t exist.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/23/voters-purges-elections-rolls-americans-pilf
https://www.propublica.org/article/a-conservative-legal-group-significantly-miscalculated-data-in-a-report-on-mail-in-voting
There is NO mass voter fraud. This is a lie peddled by the right. The goal of Donald Trump and his MAGA cohorts is not to protect elections, but to suppress voting. They know they can’t win on the substance, so they have to resort to suppressing voting to stay in power. It’s pathetic.
Zaphod
Ah, this must be the "mind controlled MAGA crowd" that we have been hearing about.
gaijintraveller
Save America Act sounds so Orwellian Newspeak. In fact it sound as if it is something designed to destroy America.
*Newspeak is a fictional language invented by George Orwell for his book 1984,
It is a version of English modified to limit free thought. An example would be a government renaming The Ministry of War, The Ministry of Peace.
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."
bass4funk
Not for you perhaps since you're not American, but for the vast majority of Americans, it is a serious issue.
YES, and No, so in order for them not to be any doubt or confusion or to make sure that illegals never vote or obtain drivers licenses, this is the way forward
Underworld
bass4funk
So, not really a rigorous study.
It isn’t because it doesn’t exist.
The key word here is “potential”. This isn’t actual non-citizens, it’s possible non-citizens. And if they were, it’s 0.015% of the roll.
It’s not an issue.
bass4funk
And That’s like saying, the Democrats are for legal immigration and for close borders
No, the goal is to make sure that non-citizens and illegal aliens never get a chance to vote in any US elections,. That is the goal of that, nothing more, it has nothing to do with racism. It has everything to do with being legal or being illegal and anyone who is for legal elections and for legal immigration wants this, if you don’t, and if you oppose this, then you’re not for legal immigration, it’s that simple.
iraira
Voter fraud is a complete non-issue in US elections. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation found "103 cases of confirmed election fraud. However, those 103 ranged from 2005 to 2022 during which time over 107 million ballots were cast. There were 11 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election alone. The fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast — hardly evidence of a fundamentally corrupt system." in Texas.
A 64-year-old Arizona woman voted Republican using her deceased mother's ballot in order to compensate for the Democrat fraud votes she believed existed.
Prove this is an actual issue worth all this attention.
Or maybe address the affordability issues, the failed Iranian war, and those Epstein files which are real issues.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/widespread-election-fraud-claims-by-republicans-dont-match-the-evidence/
bass4funk
If that were true, Democrats wouldn't side with the Republicans on this issue, and they never agree on anything, but on this they're mostly United, so they know this is an issue.
Underworld
bass4funk
Nope. It’s not. It’s voter suppression.
bass4funk
Ok, I really don't worry about what non-citizens think about our elections.
Underworld
bass4funk
Nope. It’s not. It’s voter suppression.
It’s not what I think. It’s fact.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The majority of Americans want Trump out on his assets. Should we do that, too?
Underworld
bass4funk
Voter fraud is a complete non-issue in US elections.
If that were true, it would pass in the Senate.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Which is, wait for it, how the system is supposed to work.
Which is a comically low amount when we are talking 100s of millions of ballots.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Just because the few MAGAs that make it to the senate have a sense of self-preservation doesn't mean that the average MAGA is a freethinking individual.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Which cannot be used to just change random stuff. Also I bet MAGAs blew all three reconciliation methods.
MilesTeg
Well if you really didn't, you wouldn't be constantly arguing with non-citizens would you. Maybe you should practice what you preach and not then. LOL!
bass4funk
It's not or tell me when you voted in the last US election?
This is a public forum, you do know that, right?
Always
bass4funk
Which is why both sides of the political aisle are upset about, can't wait for the Supreme Court ruling on this
Underworld
bass4funk
It’s not what I think. It’s fact.
If I voted in the last US election, it wouldn’t be fact. ;-)
You have been presented with enough evidence in this forum, so now you are just ignoring the truth.
bass4funk
BUT you can't so it doesn't matter how you personally feel about it
You as well. again, this is why both sides wanted this to go through.
Underworld
bass4funk
If I voted in the last US election, it wouldn’t be fact. ;-)
I’m not saying how I personally feel about it, I’m talking facts.
Nope. The Democrats don’t support this act.
bass4funk
No, you are talking how you feel, you can't vote in the US, so there is no way of you, knowing or even understanding the dilemma that we are facing with voter ID fraud, that's the reason why we're having problems with drivers license being issued to illegal foreigners
See? Again you don't know what you're talking about. I was talking about the voters most Democrat voters over 70% due support it.
bass4funk
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/most-americans-support-requiring-photo-090000900.html
A Pew Research Center poll in August tested a variety of election rules and found that 83% of U.S. adults support "requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote," while 16% oppose it. That's up from 77% support in a 2012 Pew poll.
Support now includes 71% of self-identified Democrats, 83% of independents and 76% of Black voters.
"It kind of feels like the only Americans not to support voter ID requirements are Democrats here in Congress," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on the floor.
Underworld
bass4funk
No point in talking polls, the Save America act is dead in the water. It won’t pass the Senate. That’s a good thing because it would suppress the vote and it solves nothing.
wallace
MAGA expats are so fragile about their identity. Comes from not living in their country.