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Trump Holds Housing Bill Hostage, Mike Johnson Says He’ll Sign It Anyway

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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,”

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.

Image via Reuters

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IT'S NOT A GAME

McCarthy Attacks Cheney and Kinzinger as ‘Pelosi Republicans’ – Says He’ll ‘See’ After Call to Punish Them

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5 years ago

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July 26, 2021

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Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is responding to a growing chorus of his House GOP caucus members, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who are calling on him to “punish” Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for agreeing to sit on the U.S. Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

“The push to seek punishment rose to a new level on Sunday, after Pelosi announced that Kinzinger had accepted her invitation to join the committee. Initially, most rank-and-file Republicans were content to let Cheney serve without much of a fight, but Kinzinger’s addition has changed the conversation and has put a new level of pressure on McCarthy,” CNN reports.

Some members, including Gaetz, want McCarthy to strip the two Republicans of all their committee assignments but CNN notes Speaker Pelosi could merely re-appoint them. Regardless, the extremists on the right “believe Cheney and Kinzinger need to be reprimanded for not remaining loyal to the conference.”

The Daily Mail’s Emily Goodin reports McCarthy is indulging his more Trumpian tendencies, calling Cheney and Kinzinger names.

Meanwhile, Rep. Gaetz makes clear he sees all this as just a game, angry that one of the GOP’s best “players” has been benched.

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