Microsoft founder Bill Gates viewed Jeffrey Epstein as an enigmatic figure with inexplicable wealth but met with him over a dozen times in a bid to collect sweeping donations for global health, according to his testimony to Congress. Gates testified on his relationship with Epstein on June 10 before the House Oversight and Government Reform […]
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said “you’d see a grown man cry” if President Donald Trump vetoes a bipartisan housing bill he was meant to ink on Wednesday, but abruptly canceled the landmark bill’s signing. Lawmakers were ready for Trump to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which would ease local regulations and encourage homebuilding, […]
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday in a bid to iron out a debacle involving a bipartisan housing reform bill and election integrity legislation. The controversy sparked on Wednesday morning, when Trump shocked Capitol Hill by canceling the signing of the major housing bill, which the lower chamber […]
Congress earlier approved the legislation in a rare, bipartisan move, signalling how pressing the housing issue has become for American voters.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday appeared flabbergasted when asked about why President Trump chose to cancel his signing of a bipartisan housing bill that easily cleared both chambers of Congress. “I’m sorry, if you’re asking me to get into Donald Trump’s head and figure out what’s going on there, you need somebody else,” Warren,…
Senate Republicans expressed shock and bewilderment over President Trump’s threat not to sign a highly touted bill to address housing affordability, describing the move as “inexplicable” and making “no sense” at a time when voters are worried about rising costs. GOP senators took some solace in the fact that Trump only canceled a signing ceremony…
President Donald Trump canceled plans to sign a bipartisan bill on Wednesday afternoon aimed at lowering housing costs and increasing supply, until Congress approves voting restrictions. Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall reports from the White House. (Source: Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing of a bipartisan housing bill Wednesday, insisting that he would not make it law without his voter ID legislation, the SAVE America Act. But not everyone on Capitol Hill got the memo that the housing reform effort was a dud.Arkansas Representative French Hill was already in a news conference when Trump axed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Hill unknowingly celebrated a dead proposal that Republicans had hoped would bolster their reelection efforts ahead of November.Standing beside House Speaker Mike Johnson, Hill said it had been his “top goal” to lower the cost of housing.“This bill does that, so I’m proud of the work that both chambers have struggled through,” Hill said Wednesday morning. “But it’s successful today, and I’m proud of the work of the House and Senate to get people to ‘yes’.”LMAO -- GOP Rep. French Hill is literally right now during a news conference touting the bipartisan housing bill and the president's support for it, unaware that Trump moments ago angrily announced he won't sign it pic.twitter.com/NqizOMVDyR— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was drafted to address the U.S. housing crisis, which has entailed bottlenecked supply, stalled family growth, and surged home and rental prices across the country. The bill would have funneled resources toward increasing housing supply and streamlined environmental reviews, and would have forced the Department of Housing and Urban Development to address red-tape issues related to zoning and land-use that have historically posed barriers to housing development.“This is a very rare occurrence to have successive bipartisan votes across both chambers on versions of this bill, and it finally seems to be reaching the finish line,” Francis Torres, housing and infrastructure director at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told TIME earlier this week. “This bill is the most serious that Congress has gotten about housing reforms in a generation.”The House passed the bill by a vote of 358–32 on Tuesday. The day before, the Senate had passed it by a measure of 85–5. It only needed the president’s signature to become law—but that apparently won’t happen unless Congress caves to his unpopular voter ID demands.The Save America Act sparked nationwide controversy earlier this year, particularly over a detail in the bill that would have made it more difficult for married women to vote. The backlash on Capitol Hill was grave, so much so that it gummed up efforts to fund Homeland Security for several months. Republicans eventually had to bail on the package to end the congressional gridlock.The Save America Act suggests numerous amendments to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, including line items that would abolish mail-in voting, require voters to bring proof of citizenship and proof of residency to register to vote, require voter ID, and mandate voter roll purges every 30 days, an enormous bureaucratic task that would place undue burdens on local election officials. The measure would also add a federal law to prevent men from competing in women’s sports and a ban on “transgender mutilation surgery.”
A last-minute Donald Trump decision to cancel the signing ceremony for a popular housing bill that sailed through both chambers of Congress with unusual bipartisan support is yet another blow to Republicans who have been looking for any good news as they face a midterm blowout.Mid-Wednesday morning, the president took to his Truth Social platform and wrote, “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.”Breaking the news on MS NOW as it happened, host Ali Vitali pointed out the president just pulled the rug out from under his own party that has little to brag about to voters.“Now the President is dashing Republican hopes of having a new bill on affordability to run on. And also putting them again in a position where they're not going to pass this [SAVE AMERICA] bill,” she told her panel. “If you are a traditional, normal President, your entire job at this moment in time is to get those Republican Senators re-elected,” Puck White House correspondent Abby Livingston added. “And yet here on Earth, there seems to be the only thing more fun than tormenting Democrats right now seems to be tormenting Senate Republicans and he is making their lives actively harder,” she elaborated. “"He has metaphorically already shot the hostage in this situation, and so you have just this,” she continued. “This is going to land on him in six months if he loses the Senate because he's not going to be able to get confirmations through, and this is all going to come to a head.” - YouTube youtu.be