By WMBD TV
WASHINGTON. (WMBD) — A bipartisan housing reform bill that swept through both chambers in Congress was meant to be signed Wednesday. Until President Donald Trump canceled it.
Trump said he no longer wanted to sign the housing bill, which aims to increase housing supply, because the Senate has failed to pass the SAVE Act, a proposal to require identification to vote.
“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 wrote in a Truth Social post.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said he was shocked when he saw this.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It’s so seldom that we have a bipartisan effort on something that really counts with American families. The cost of housing, whether it’s rent or mortgage, has gone through the roof. People are struggling to make payments.
“It passes the House. It passes the Senate, Republicans and Democrats working together. And the president steps in and says, I won’t sign it. That’s the end of it. What is he thinking?” said Illinois’ senior senator.
The legislation passed with a veto-proof majority, but if Congress adjourns, it could fall victim to a pocket veto.
Regardless of Trump’s opposition, Durbin said he’s confident they could get this plan passed.
“I hope that doesn’t happen because it’s going to delay this for weeks and we need help now,” he said. “But if the president wants the challenge, I think we have enough bipartisan support to override any presidential veto.”
That presidential veto will be harder to tackle when it comes to a recent vote that passed both chambers to end the war in Iran.
On a 50-48 vote in the Senate, the resolution instructed the president to end the war in Iran or receive Congress’ approval, the latter being a requirement to start a war under the Constitution.
This is despite the war nearing its potential end, as Iran and the U.S. have seemed to agree on a peace deal. But that peace deal is on a rocky boat, as a continued conflict between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon threatens another closing of the Strait of Hormuz.
Durbin said the past three months of conflict have been hard to follow. “He’s announced we’re up or down. We’re going to bomb them. We’re going to meet with him. I can’t tell where we are, but I want this war to end soon.”
The war has cost the lives of 13 American service members, caused gas prices to surge, and has not achieved the ultimate goal of stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, said Durbin.
“I hope the president will come to some sort of agreement soon. I hope he doesn’t include things like a $300 billion payoff to the Iranians. I think that’s a serious mistake,” the Illinois Democrat said.
Other hopes Durbin has for the president are to stop worrying about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Posts on social media are criticizing the president for spending money to stop algae blooms in the pool.
The president spent roughly $14 million to stop those blooms, only for the pool to be full of algae shortly after repairs were finished. Now, after more attempts to fix the pool, parts of it are falling apart, with some of those parts taken away as souvenirs by tourists, according to news reports.
Trump has said the damage is caused by people actively cutting up the pool. Durbin doesn’t believe that.
“We have cameras on that reflecting pool that record every minute, 24/7 of every day. If some terrorist or individual is involved in the destruction of that pool, we would know it,” Durbin said.
In other legislative items, Durbin said they need to find a bipartisan solution to Social Security, which will become insolvent at least by 2032.
One proposal to ease Social Security costs is to increase the retirement age. Durbin didn’t say whether he supported raising the retirement age, but he said they have to come up with something soon.
“This idea that six years from now, people are going to see a 20% cut in their monthly benefits for a lot of folks, then it would be a hardship they just couldn’t handle,” he said. “They’re living paycheck to paycheck and Social Security is a big part of it.”
Durbin said the sooner they come up with a solution, the better.
“Waiting till the absolute last minute is going to be very costly in terms of what it would cost to the system,” he said. “And it runs the risk that people will see an interruption in their benefits.”
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
