WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the signing of sweeping bipartisan housing legislation caught lawmakers off guard Wednesday, but Alabama’s senators said they understood where the president is coming from.
Just hours after Trump announced his plans to scrap the signing ceremony, he met with Senate Republicans in a closed-door lunch to discuss their agenda ahead of the midterms. The meeting was already expected to be tense over issues such as the Iran war, but the drama over the housing bill ratcheted up the pressure.
“I think we had a really great meeting, and we’re very proud of the party,” Trump said, leaving the meeting. “We like our leader. We like everybody, really, in the room. I don’t like a few people, but that’s okay.”
The housing legislation, which passed both chambers with broad support, would allow lawmakers to notch a win on affordability before the elections. But Trump quickly derailed that with his push to pass the GOP voter identification bill, the SAVE America Act, before he signs the 21st Century Road to Housing Act into law.
Alabama’s U.S. Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., were divided earlier in the week in their votes on the measure, which aims to address the housing affordability crisis.
Britt, who voted for it and touted multiple provisions of the bill that she worked on, told Alabama Daily News that she remains “proud” of the legislation and is “hopeful” the bill will still become law.
But she said she also sees why the president is upset about the lack of progress on passing the election bill, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, and which she supports.
“I understand his frustration. I certainly look forward to moving the housing bill into law,” Britt told ADN before the meeting with Trump. “I look forward to hearing from him at lunch. I think we’ll have a very honest and frank conversation in there.”
When asked how Republicans can square their push to make life more affordable while simultaneously having the president halt an affordable housing bill, Britt replied, “I think you can do two things at one time.”
Tuberville was one of just five senators, all Republicans, who opposed the housing measure on Monday. He said the bill gives too much money to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and doesn’t do enough to help the middle class.
As far as why Trump cancelled the signing ceremony, Tuberville told ADN it was all about Trump using his “leverage” to advance the SAVE America Act. He said he agreed with the president’s strategy.
“He’s for the (housing) bill. He just, he’s more for the Save America Act than he is for that,” Tuberville said.
While Trump has shown support for the housing legislation in the past, just before he cancelled the bill signing, the president fumed on social media that the bill was of “minor importance” compared to the SAVE America Act.
Even without Democratic support, not enough Republicans support the SAVE America Act to get the bill to 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster and pass the Senate. There are also not enough votes to successfully get rid of the filibuster.
But Britt said lawmakers need to look at a “pathway forward” to pass at least parts of the election bill. Tuberville has been consistently vocal about “nuking” the filibuster to pass the entirety of the SAVE America Act, even going as far as calling out his fellow Republican senators who are not supportive of the legislation.
Republican lawmakers have floated passing the SAVE America Act as part of their third reconciliation bill, which would only require a simple majority to pass, but that’s a complicated task, especially in just a few short months ahead of November.
Trump poured cold water on that idea later Wednesday in the Oval Office, saying he does not support putting the SAVE America Act into a reconciliation package.
Trump’s renewed SAVE America Act crusade also had reverberating consequences in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had to scrap a rule vote Wednesday after some hardline conservatives threatened to tank the vote unless Congress passes the election measure.
Alabama’s Republican Senate nominee, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, the only other Alabama member who voted against the housing bill, expressed his support of Trump’s move to hold up the bill in light of the voter ID measure.
“There is no legislation that is more important than the SAVE America Act,” Moore wrote on social media. “The Senate needs to listen to @POTUS and NUKE the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act!”