President Donald Trump suddenly announced he was holding hostage a housing bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support until the SAVE America Act is passed. But Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Trump will sign it anyway.

Trump was set to sign the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” which passed the Senate Monday 85-5 and the House Tuesday 393-13, on Wednesday afternoon. But those plans were thrown into chaos when he posted to Truth Social that he was cancelling the signing.

“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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote. Shortly before on Wednesday morning, he had called for the end to the filibuster in order to pass the act.

READ MORE: ‘A Joke’: Trump’s Possible National Housing Emergency Sparks Fierce Backlash

The SAVE America Act—or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and show photo ID when voting in federal elections. Trump claims the bill is necessary to prevent widespread election fraud, despite there being no evidence of voter fraud on a large scale. Though passed in the House, with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), joining Republicans, the bill has languished in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he will not bring the bill to a vote, because he knows it will not pass.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Johnson dismissed Trump’s bluster, and said that he would “understand it’s a good product” when he goes through the housing bill, and will ultimately sign it.

“When interest rates are high and costs are high, it makes the barrier to entry so high that young families can’t get into houses anymore. That’s not a Republican or Democrat problem, it’s an American problem, so, Americans are fixing it. And so, we’re going to reduce regulation so builders can build. We’re going to limit institutional investing in the housing market. We’re going to bring the American dream back within the grasp of hardworking American families,” Johnson said in a clip surfaced by journalist Aaron Rupar. “The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he’s going to understand that it’s a good product and certainly something that fulfills his promises to bring down the cost,”

Mike Johnson talks about President Trump like he's a toddler: "The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he's gonna understand it's a good product and something that fulfills his promises" pic.twitter.com/64KKvDaeTG

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to increase the housing supply and drive down home prices. One of the main ways it does so is to limit institutional investors from purchasing homes, according to CBS News. It will also help local governments convert empty buildings zoned for commercial use into housing, and removes some regulations in building new houses.

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President Donald Trump called for the end of the filibuster so the GOP can pass “everything” it “ever dreamed of.”

In a Wednesday morning post to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump stumped for the SAVE America Act over a housing bill drafted by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Scott (R-SC). That bill, the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” passed the Senate Monday in a vote of 85-5 and heads to the House, where it is expected to pass.

READ MORE: Internet Rises Up to Slam Mitch McConnell for Claiming Filibuster ‘Has No Racial History at All’

“The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. That is what Americans, both Dumocrats, Republicans, and everyone else, care about. Get the bad Republicans to approve it or, better yet, Terminate the Filibuster and approve it, AND EVERYTHING ELSE REPUBLICANS HAVE EVER DREAMED OF. The Dumocrats will do it in hour one, 100%. Republicans will feel very stupid if they don’t do it first. I’ll be watching with tears in my eyes!!!” Trump wrote.

The SAVE America Act—or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and show photo ID when voting in federal elections. Trump claims the bill is necessary to prevent widespread election fraud, despite there being no evidence of voter fraud on a large scale. Though passed in the House, with Henry Cuellar (D-TX), joining Republicans, the bill has languished in the Senate.

The Republicans have a Senate majority, with 53 versus 45 Democrats (and two independent senators who caucus with the Dems), but the bill is unlikely to pass. An earlier attempt to pass it as an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill failed with four Republicans (Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina) voting against it.

While if a vote were held, it is likely based on previous attempts that a simple majority could be reached, the bill would be filibustered. A filibuster is a way to require a bill be passed with a supermajority—60 votes, a threshold the SAVE America Act probably can’t reach. Even if all Republicans voted for it, which is itself unlikely, it would require seven Democrats to cross the aisle to vote for it.

Though Trump has repeatedly called to end the filibuster, Democrats have as well. In 2022, many donors pulled their funding from conservative-leaning Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). At the time, Democrats called for the end of the filibuster to pass federal abortion rights after the fall of Roe v. Wade, but their attempts were stymied by Manchin and Sinema.

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In 2025, four House Republicans broke ranks to vote in favor of releasing the files relating to disgraced financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Three of them will not be returning in 2027.

While running for a second term, many of President Donald Trump’s surrogates on the campaign trail said that if elected, he would release the complete files on Epstein. Even though Trump himself was more cool on the idea—he’d called the files a “Democrat hoax that never ends“—his supporters were so outspoken about it that it became a de facto plank of his platform.

Throughout 2025, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) delayed the vote as long as he could. Representatives organized a discharge petition to force the vote, and Johnson even delayed swearing in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) for two months, as she promised to be the final signature needed. But in November, the House finally voted. All Democrats voted to release the Epstein files, but four Republicans—just enough to get it to pass—crossed party lines to vote in favor.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She’s ‘Done Supporting’ The GOP: ‘Party Betrays Its Voters’

Those congresspeople, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, had previously been staunch allies of Trump, and among the most conservative members of the House. However, after their vote, Trump and the MAGA movement turned on them.

Greene was the first to leave. She announced she’d be resigning a week after the Epstein vote, saying she didn’t want to put her family and constituents through “a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president that we all fought for.” She resigned on January 5, the five-year anniversary of her first swearing in.

Massie was the next to fall. His primary was May 19, and he came in second to the Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL. The election was hard-fought, with the candidates and their supporters spending the most money on advertising in a House race ever, according to NBC News. Massie lost by nearly 10 percentage points and a little more than 10,000 votes. After his loss, Trump said, “He was a bad guy. He deserves to lose.”

Though a Trump loyalist like Massie, Mace also positioned herself as the face of anti-LGBTQ activism. She railed against Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), the first openly trans member of Congress. Mace introduced a bill barring trans women from using the women’s restrooms, telling reporters the legislation was directed at McBride specifically. Mace ended up coming in fifth in her primary on June 9, earning just 12.1% of the vote. The top two vote-getters faced off June 23 in a primary, with the state Attorney General Alan Wilson triumphing over the Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

Massie and Mace are lame ducks—and the question remains, will Boebert join them? Boebert’s primary is June 30—and given that her district is the reddest in Colorado, it is nearly a foregone conclusion that the primary winner will ultimately land in Washington. That said, despite Trump calling for someone to run against her, he did so too late for anyone to file, and Boebert is running for her party’s nomination unopposed. So barring an unprecedented upset—she’s currently polling at 80% over her Democratic rival Eileen Laubacher—Boebert will be the last one standing.

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