U.S. Sen. Susan Collins joined several Republicans expressing frustration on Capitol Hill Wednesday after President Donald Trump canceled the signing of a major bipartisan housing bill the GOP was counting on for a win a few months before November’s midterm elections.
Trump abruptly killed a news conference and signing ceremony for the housing package ahead of a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol. The president said he was putting the signing on hold until lawmakers move forward with the SAVE America Act, a voting overhaul denounced by Democrats and voting rights advocates that does not have the votes to advance, according to Republican leaders.
Collins, who supports the SAVE America Act, is a strong backer of the housing bill, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. It passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. She said on social media Tuesday that the bill would expand Maine’s housing supply, cut red tape for construction and restrict institutional investors from outbidding Maine families.
“It makes no sense,” she told reporters of Trump’s decision to cancel the signing. “This bill has very strong bipartisan support … The primary author is a Republican senator and it addresses an issue that affects many American families who find the cost of housing to be a tremendous burden.”
Earlier Wednesday morning, Trump blasted the comprehensive housing package as having “minor importance” compared with lowering interest rates and his touted voting bill. He said the housing bill was too “Elizabeth Warren centric,” using his Native American slur nickname for the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.
“Get the bad Republicans to approve it, or, better yet, terminate the filibuster and approve it,” he said on his social network Truth Social. Less than 24 hours before, the White House press secretary praised the housing bill, noting it included policies “long championed by the president.”
Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, to dispense with the 60-vote filibuster to pass the measure along party lines. Thune has maintained the GOP doesn’t have the votes for that move either.
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, agreed with Collins that it “makes no sense” to hold a bill “that’s ready for signature hostage [for] a bill that will never pass in this Congress,” Politico reported.
Some Republicans said the president is likely to eventually sign the housing bill, which would still become law even if he does not sign it within 10 days. It has enough bipartisan backing to likely override a veto.
Democrats piled on to the Republican critiques.
“Trump’s clown car gets more and more laughable,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Trump is running away from one of the very few accomplishments that could actually help the American people.”
Schumer added that the SAVE Act “will not pass … Get on board with this housing bill. Don’t veto it.”
Collins has supported the SAVE Act, saying “now is the time for voter ID in our federal elections.” The bill would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, mandates new national photo identification requirements, calls on states and local officials to rely on federal databases and restricts mail-in ballots long criticized by Trump.
Collins has joined a handful of other Republicans along with Democrats to block the voting measure from being attached to unrelated spending bills.
Voting rights advocates and Maine and national Democrats have lambasted the voting act, arguing it could impact millions of Americans who do not have a passport and tens of millions of women whose married names do not match their birth certificates. Critics also say it’s part of an effort by Trump to federalize elections administered by the states.