Trump ramps up pressure on Senate to pass SAVE Act by refusing to sign bipartisan bill

President Trump speaks to reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans.

President Donald Trump is renewing efforts to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act with a little more than four months to go before the midterm elections by canceling his planned signing of a key bipartisan piece of legislation. 

Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday that the signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill aimed at making construction and purchasing of new homes more affordable for Americans over what he views as a "national emergency." 

"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 said Wednesday in a post on Truth Social ahead of a luncheon with Senate Republicans.

The SAVE America Act, which among other things would enact voter ID laws, was passed by the House but has languished for months in the Senate. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina brought the SAVE Act up for a vote earlier this month and, despite voter ID laws being a literal 80-20 issue with American voters, the measure was able to muster only 48 votes in favor of passing it.

The Senate needs 60 votes in order to pass the act. All Senate Democrats voted against it, and Republican senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and outgoing Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky all crossed party lines and voted against it.

Trump has long been a proponent of voter ID laws, and has questioned the integrity of many elections in the U.S., going back to the result of the 2020 presidential election. His renewed sense of urgency seemed to be fueled by the results in Tuesday's New York primary, in which three socialist candidates for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, who were endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won their respective races. 

As Trump arrived to the Capitol to meet with Republican senators, he briefly answered a question from reporters while flanked by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whom Trump has criticized for not more aggressively pushing the SAVE Act. 

'Every election's important," the president said in response to a question from a reporter. "They want a lot of Communists to come in. The people that they're pushing are communists -- and this country is not going to have communists."

Following the lunch meeting, Trump emerged from the conference room and again addressed reporters, saying, "We had a really great meeting." He praised most of the Republican senators, adding, "I don't like a few people." Trump didn't name them individually, but told reporters, "I think you know who they are."

Apart from that, Trump talked about the success of the country since he returned to office, plunging oil prices and negotiations with Iran, but didn't offer an update on whether the Senate might be any closer to passing his signature piece of legislation. Watch his remarks after the lunch below.