WASHINGTON — It was all going so well.
The American flags were in place. The red-carpeted stage was set with a lectern bearing the presidential seal. The social media posts from the top White House communicators hailing the achievement were up. And the chairs in the Capitol’s grand Statuary Hall bore placards for the key lawmakers ready to celebrate a rare bipartisan achievement.
Then, less than two hours before the scheduled signing ceremony Wednesday for significant housing affordability legislation, President Trump pulled the plug.
Trump abruptly announced he would not sign the 21st Century Road to Housing Act championed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren after all, despite it passing by huge bipartisan margins in both chambers of Congress this week. Instead, Trump insisted he would only approve the heavily negotiated bill if Congress also sent him the SAVE America Act — a controversial election overhaul bill backed mostly by Republicans that has no realistic path to becoming law.
Hours later, even after a closed-door meeting between Trump and Republican senators, the future of the housing bill remained unclear and lawmakers were left scratching their heads about how to appease a president demanding they pass unrelated legislation that lacks the votes in the Senate.
It was the latest example of an unbound Trump casting aside his allies in Congress and upending their work with no warning, leaving them to pick up the pieces ahead of November elections.
“At some point we’ve got to deal with reality,” said Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, expressing befuddlement with the efforts of other lawmakers who were telling Trump he still had a chance to get the unrelated voting legislation passed. “I just don’t understand what they’re doing. . . . We do have midterm elections coming up here.”
It’s unclear what precipitated Trump’s decision to hold the bill. It sailed through the Senate 85-5 on Monday and passed quickly through the House 358-32 on Tuesday. The White House even said the president was ready to sign it.
The only hint of trouble came in a post on X Tuesday by Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida who vowed to oppose the housing bill and any other until the SAVE America Act was included.
Trump still went to the Capitol Wednesday for a previously scheduled lunch with Senate Republicans. On the way out, he touted “a great meeting” and a unified party (other than “a few people” he said he didn’t like).
Lawmakers told reporters the meeting only barely touched on the housing bill, instead focusing heavily on the SAVE America Act and the overall direction of the party. The most significant interaction was reportedly a heated exchange between Trump and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary after Trump endorsed his opponent, over the Iran war.
But the conversation didn’t reach any resolution. Senate Republicans still lack the votes to overturn the filibuster or to pass the SAVE America Act without doing so.
“There was nothing new there, that was the same conversation we’ve had,” said Ohio Republican Senator John Husted. “He just talked about the importance of us sticking together on all these issues. . . . You have people in that room that 90 percent of them agree, and occasionally there’s one or two that don’t, but when you have slim margins, those things matter.”
Husted was one of many Republicans who noted they support both the housing bill and SAVE America Act, and hope they can still get the housing bill signed.
But in a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump ripped the legislation as an “Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill,” even though a major Trump ally, South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, was a pivotal player in crafting it.
The bill also includes a ban on large institutional investors, such as private equity firms, purchasing single-family homes, a practice Trump himself criticized in his State of the Union address this year. Scott, many congressional Republicans, along with Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt and White House deputy chief of staff James Blair had all been touting the bill until the moment Trump came out against it. Trump’s actions now put in limbo a significant bipartisan win on affordability ahead of the midterm elections.
“There is a huge group of people who really appreciate what the president is doing right now — and it’s the Democratic Party,” said Senator Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican and moderate who called the president’s move an inexplicable “hostage” situation.
Indiana Republican Senator Jim Banks on Wednesday defended Trump, saying the president has been “transparent” that he wouldn’t sign anything until the SAVE America Act passed.
“I like the housing bill, I voted for it,” Banks said. “But I stand with President Trump. Let’s fight to pass the SAVE America Act.”
The act would require voters to prove citizenship with strict paperwork requirements, and require identification to vote, even by mail, among other provisions.
The housing legislation, meanwhile, was a melding of 47 initiatives from Democrats and Republicans and would have cut some of the red tape surrounding environmental approvals to build homes and incentivized communities to create preapproved building plans to speed up the time and costs for new construction.
Warren, who negotiated the bill over months, noted Republicans got multiple wins with it.
“We’re in a crisis, we have a bill that will help address that crisis, and it is passed by huge bipartisan majorities,” the Massachusetts Democrat said. “It’s well supported all across the country. For the president to turn his back on it just defies common sense. He proves through his actions he just doesn’t give a damn about hardworking American families.”
Trump dismissed the legislation Wednesday as “of minor importance” and later told reporters “we’re doing well with housing” even as polls show the cost of home payments and rents are a top concern of Americans.
Warren and other Democrats were livid that Trump refused to sign the bill, labeling the move as proof he doesn’t care about the financial struggles of Americans. They vowed they would keep pushing to get the bill signed into law.
“There is only one person standing in the way of affordable housing relief for people of this country. That person is the president of the United States,” Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who helped shepherd the bill through the House, said at an afternoon news conference. “And I have a message for him: Mr. President, sign the damn bill. And you don’t, get ready for a veto override.”
The bill passed both chambers with enough votes to override a veto. But it’s likely some Republicans would pull back their support at the risk of crossing Trump. And as of Wednesday afternoon, the legislation was stuck in a parliamentary limbo, with Trump neither signing it nor vetoing it. Though the bill could become law automatically without Trump’s signature, congressional leaders have yet to formally send the bill to the White House to start the clock.
“The president didn’t say he’s going to veto it. He could,” Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said after the lunch. “I don’t think he will, but that’s just one person’s opinion. It’s a good piece of legislation.”
Earlier in the day, though, Kennedy said it would be disappointing if the bill didn’t become law.
“I would be sad,” Kennedy said. “You would see a grown man cry. We’ve worked really hard on it.”
Sophie Endrud of the Globe staff contributed to this story.
Tal Kopan can be reached at tal.kopan@globe.com. Follow her @talkopan. Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera. Jackie Kucinich can be reached at jackie.kucinich@globe.com. Follow her @JFKucinich and on Instagram at @JackieKucinich.