Bipartisan Housing Bill Stalled Over SAVE Act as Donald Trump and Bill Cassidy Clash Over Iran

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan housing bill remains in limbo after President Donald Trump announced he will not sign the legislation until the Senate passes the SAVE Act. The legislative standoff on Capitol Hill intensified during a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans, which was marked by a fierce argument between Trump and Senator Bill Cassidy over the ongoing conflict in Iran.

During the meeting, Trump informed senators that he was canceling the signing of the housing affordability bill, a piece of legislation decades in the making that has seen extensive back-and-forth negotiations between the Senate and the House. He demanded that the Senate first pass the SAVE America Act, which imposes new voting requirements on the states.

This is not the first time the president has leveraged the SAVE Act to delay his own legislative agenda. He has previously held up the confirmation of a nominee for Director of National Intelligence and delayed a critical national security bill involving Pfizer until the voting legislation advances.

According to senators inside the room, Trump’s demand to stall the housing bill surprisingly generated very little pushback from Senate Republicans during the meeting. This lack of resistance came as a shock, given that several GOP lawmakers have spent weeks expressing their desire to see the housing bill become law. However, those same senators have previously acknowledged that the votes simply are not there to pass the measure, and they have argued against holding the rest of the president’s agenda hostage over the SAVE Act.

While the housing legislation took a backseat, tensions boiled over regarding foreign policy. A highly heated exchange erupted between Trump and Cassidy, a Republican who has frequently found himself at odds with the president.

The clash stemmed from an Iran war powers vote the previous night, where Cassidy and three other Republicans joined forces with Democrats. The vote served as a symbolic rebuke of the president’s decision to continue military action in Iran without securing explicit approval from Congress. Following the vote, Trump heavily criticized the four dissenting Republicans.

As the meeting progressed, Trump continued to criticize Cassidy for his vote. Cassidy pushed back, objecting to the rebuke and stating his belief that the president had failed to make a compelling case to the American public about why the war in Iran is beneficial to the United States.

According to Cassidy, Trump responded by raising his voice. Cassidy admitted that he subsequently lost his temper as well, resulting in a real, heated back-and-forth exchange between the two men. Several other Republican senators in attendance confirmed the intense nature of the confrontation as they left the meeting.

The fiery dispute underscores the harbored bad feelings between the two men, particularly after Trump recently issued an endorsement against Cassidy in his reelection bid.