GOP representative French Hill was touting the bipartisan housing bill as “a real win” and the president’s support for it at the party leaders’ news conference earlier, unaware that Donald Trump had moments ago cancelled his signing it into law.
Hill, who spearheaded the bill, later said “I’m not disappointed” about Trump’s decision to pull the signing.
The president chose, for a reason known to him, about what’s going on in the Senate, chose to delay the signing while he meets with the Senate and works on some other priorities of his. That’s fully in his prerogative to do that. I don’t find that personally offensive.
This is from Meredith Lee Hill, who covers Congress for Politico, on X:
House GOP leaders are CANCELING the rule vote to tee up key bills set for 1:30pm today, per sources
GOP hardliners are threatening to tank it over the housing bill and others are now upset Trump canceled the bill signing
Leadership will recess and decide the way forward
Updated
And more on the Senate majority leader, John Thune, who laughed when reporters asked him about Donald Trump cancelling the signing of the major bipartisan housing legislation.
“I just heard that … I guess I would say at this point I don’t have any observations about that,” he said.
As has been increasingly the case over the last year, that’s a pretty stark contrast to House speaker Mike Johnson’s defence of the president using the housing bill as leverage to push through his voter ID legislation (see my earlier post).
Updated
Adding to the tension is Donald Trump’s increasingly distant relationship with Senate majority leader John Thune, who remains popular in his conference and cordial with the president, but has spent much of his time lately telling Trump what he doesn’t want to hear.
Thune said yesterday that while Trump and some in their conference want to see the voting bill pass, “it’s just not realistic.” He’s repeated several times that Republicans are simply “bound by arithmetic” and don’t have the votes.
But still, Trump continues to push the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and pass the legislation, which would create strict new requirements for voters to prove citizenship and show voter ID at the polls.
“John is a leader and hopefully he can get the votes,” Trump said yesterday in Pennsylvania, ramping up pressure on Thune.
For his part, Thune devoted weeks of floor time to the voting bill earlier this year and has said he supports it. But he has repeatedly said there aren’t enough votes to scrap the filibuster that triggers a 60-vote threshold to pass most bills in the 53-47 Senate. And Democrats are uniformly opposed to the bill.
“Those are just hard realities,” Thune said yesterday. “And I think people at some point have to come to grips with that.”
Thune added that he hoped the GOP Senate meeting with the president is about “sitting down as a family” and figuring out their agenda in the remaining time before the election.
With the Associated Press.
Updated
So, Donald Trump has chosen to ratchet up tensions with Senate Republicans by abruptly cancelling plans to sign a bipartisan bill that could help boost home construction and home-buying – and was meant to be a major affordability win for his party.
Indeed, Republicans had been hoping to use the housing bill as a selling point to voters ahead of critical November midterm elections. But the president declared that he now wants Congress to first pass a bill that would mandate stricter rules for voter identification in federal elections – even though it doesn’t have the votes to pass.
The fresh saga is revealing of the deepening split between Trump and the Senate, raising the possibility that a Capitol Hill which had largely been deferential to the White House could now become much harder for the president to navigate.
Trump has blocked the Senate from confirming one of his own nominees, pressed them to fund security aspects of his White House ballroom project despite opposition and forced them to defend his war on Iran despite several being openly sceptical.
Now, by rejecting a public bill signing, Trump is also further indicating a level of indifference to the very real affordability issues that are a leading concern for voters going into November’s midterm elections (see my earlier post).
It’s also worth noting that Trump shot himself in the foot somewhat by whittling down his own support in the Senate after endorsing primary challengers to two GOP incumbents who were previously reliable votes for his agenda — Texas senator John Cornyn and Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy. Both men lost their primaries and have since become more critical of the president.
With the Associated Press.
Updated
House speaker Mike Johnson defends Trump's decision to cancel housing bill signing
At a GOP leaders’ news conference a short while ago, House speaker Mike Johnson was asked for his reaction to the president’s cancelling a planned signing of bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up the construction and availability of more affordable housing until his voter ID bill was passed.
He told reporters he had spoken to Donald Trump this morning about the so-called SAVE America Act and defended the president’s decision to hold up the housing bill as leverage.
He and I have talked about this a lot. He has expressed his priority and preference of the SAVE America Act. We share that.
He went on, referring to the controversial Voter ID bill: “We passed it three times in the House ... It has been stuck in the Senate ... He’s laser-focused on the SAVE America Act ... you have to put it under reconciliation bill.”
A reminder that although Republicans control 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats, they lack the 60 votes needed to meet the chamber’s filibuster threshold for most bills, which accounts for five failed votes on the measure or its provisions since mid-March.
Republicans say they also do not have enough votes to meet Trump’s repeated demands to eliminate the filibuster and pass the bill with a simple majority. Some GOP lawmakers, conscious they face re-election battles soon, also feel their time and efforts could be better spent on other issues.
But not the president, evidently. Johnson reiterated that the GOP lunch later will be used by Trump to persuade senators to vote for the Voter ID bill.
And so he decided - and I didn’t announce it, I wanted him to announce it - but we’re delaying this. As you know, he has a window of time before he has to sign a bill. He’s going to use a little bit more of that window of time, and we’re going to go through this together now.
He added that the housing bill was “a great product” and said he was sure the president would see that it was “something that fulfils his promises to bring down costs”.
Asked if Trump was still planning to sign it at a later date, Johnson said: “Yes … My estimation is he’ll do it within that 10-day window.”
Updated
Elizabeth Warren accuses Trump of showing 'complete indifference' to Americans' struggles
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, a co-sponsor of the housing bill, has told CNBC that Donald Trump cancelling its signing shows a “complete indifference to the costs Americans are facing”.
She also suggested that the president has failed to take into account that this bill is actually a win for him too.
He could be over here getting a victory lap … he really doesn’t care about American families.
Updated
This is from Eleanor Mueller, White House reporter at Semafor, on X:
To be clear: Trump has no leverage here. If he doesn’t sign the housing bill within 10 days, it becomes law automatically. If, before then, he vetoes, Congress has the votes to override.
Updated
In a post on Truth Social right before he abruptly cancelled signing the major housing bill, Donald Trump once again diminished the very real economic concerns Americans have amid the cost-of-living crisis that has been exacerbated by his war against Iran.
He said the bill was “of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT”.
This will likely come back to bite the president, potentially taking a place among the greatest hits of Trump-not-reading-the-room-on-the-economy including “I love the inflation” and “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation … even a little bit”, as his party gears up for a very challenging midterm election period where affordability will be front and centre.
Updated
Trump cancels signing of bipartisan housing bill to pressure Congress to pass restrictive voting bill
And just like that, Donald Trump has said he’s cancelled the signing of the major bipartisan housing bill the Senate passed last night in a bid to further pressure Congress to pass his proof-of-citizenship voting bill – which GOP leaders have repeatedly said don’t have a chance of passing.
He just posted on Truth Social:
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.
Considering this bill was a chance for the Republican party to show voters it was making a shift towards a more affordability-focused agenda ahead of November’s crucial midterm elections, Trump abruptly cancelling its signing probably isn’t the best look for the president right now.
It’s also sure to make the Senate GOP lunch he’s due to attend at 1pm ET all the more tense. Trump said of the lunch yesterday: “We’re just going to talk about SAVE America. We have to pass the SAVE America Act. So we’re going to have to talk about that and many other things.”
Updated
Donald Trump is due to sign a major housing affordability bill at noon, aimed at boosting housing supply and home-buying, and cracking down on corporate landlords’ buying up single-family homes.
The House passed the bipartisan bill in a 358-32 vote last night, after clearing the Senate by a vote of 85-5 the day before.
After that he’s heading to Capitol Hill for a showdown with Republican senators who have grown increasingly frustrated with his efforts to divert their agenda ahead of November’s midterms.
The president has pressured senators to focus on his proof-of-citizenship voting bill (the so-called SAVE America Act) and eliminating the filibuster (despite majority leader John Thune consistently stating that they don’t have the votes), blocked them from confirming one of his own nominees (Jay Clayton for DNI) and forced them to defend his war against Iran even as they question the strategy and endgame.
Just yesterday, the Senate voted to curb military action in Iran, delivering the president a significant but symbolic rebuke over a conflict that has proven deeply unpopular with the American public. Trump lashed out at the four GOP “losers” who broke with their party to help advance it, claiming he has Iran “on the ropes”.
It should be interesting, to say the least. I’ll bring you any updates as we get them.
Analysis: Zohran Mamdani has lost none of his political magic
A man or a movement? That was the question being asked when Zohran Mamdani gambled his political capital on Tuesday’s elections in New York.
The answer from voters was emphatic: they prefer Mamdani and his brand of democratic socialism to the Democratic party establishment and its lukewarm version of capitalism. America’s biggest city has swung even further to the left.
The New York Knicks might have won in five, but Mamdani did it in three. The mayor audaciously backed a trio of candidates in Democratic primaries for the US House of Representatives, and all three prevailed over establishment-backed rivals. Two were fellow democratic socialists.
The results demonstrated that Mamdani has lost none of his political magic. He took a risk by intervening in the congressional races, alienating some Black and Latino Democrats and trade unions along the way, but it paid off handsomely.
The mayor-turned-kingmaker had said it was a question of electing “better Democrats” who would “put working people back at the heart of politics”. All three victors are expected to win their safely blue districts, which would send three Mamdani allies into Congress next January.
The outcome was also a recognition of some wider trends in US politics: socialism is no longer a dirty word, criticism of Israel is no longer taboo and dissatisfaction with Democratic leaders in the Donald Trump era runs deep. Voters are thirsty for energy, fight and fresh ideas.
They ask: if Republicans can draw up a Project 2025 and pursue it ruthlessly, why can’t Democrats come up with a Project 2029 that promises universal healthcare, supreme court reform, massive climate investments, a war on the oligarchs and a clear-eyed approach to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu?
Voters have been sending a message to Democrats: stand for something, rather than nothing, because writing strongly worded letters to Trump is not enough. They regard Congress as lethargic and ineffective against the authoritarian onslaught, in contrast to the energy of Democratic governors and mayors.
Many were incensed by Biden and Harris’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of more than 73,000 Palestinian people. Some were frustrated by a Democratic National Committee election autopsy that pulled punches and failed to mention Gaza at all.
A significant number voters are also sceptical of Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and Hakeem Jeffries, his equivalent in the House, both New Yorkers and staunch supporters of Israel.
Van Jones, a political commentator and former official in the Barack Obama administration, told CNN:
This is a battle between the establishment and this insurgency. And the roof is collapsing on the Democratic party establishment tonight … This is no longer a movement; this is a movement and a machine at the same time.
Once the midterms are done, Mamdani and his allies will be a powerful force in determining the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028. That could put wind in the sails of yet another New Yorker: the progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
It is exactly 12 months since Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in his own Democratic primary, putting him on course to win the mayoralty. “A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement,” he told supporters on Tuesday. “It was the beginning.”
The polls closed at 9pm in New York last night. It took less than five minutes for Brad Lander, the Zohran Mamdani-endorsed candidate, to be announced the winner in the Democratic primary in the 12th district: a dominant victory that reinforced the power of New York City’s mayor and the durability of the progressive movement.
Cheers rang out at 9.04pm at the bar where Lander held his victory party, as the former city comptroller and former mayoral candidate was declared to have easily defeated Dan Goldman, the district’s two-term incumbent, in the Democratic primary.
It was one of three big wins for Mamdani and his allies last night, as Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who were also backed by the mayor, won their primaries. Lander and his two fellow victors will all be expected to win election to Congress in November, forming a fresh wave of progressive Democrats in Washington.
“What a glorious time to be a New Yorker,” Lander told the crowd at his victory party in Brooklyn.
Lander was introduced by Mamdani, against whom Lander ran for New York City mayor last year. The pair eventually entered a “cross-endorsement” as they sought to use the city’s ranked-choice voting system to ensure a progressive won the election.
“Brad brings a kindness to this work. He brings a sincerity to this work. He brings a vision of politics that is more than what we’ve seen for so long,” Mamdani said, describing Lander as a “good friend”.
With 92% of the vote counted Lander was 31 points ahead of Goldman, a two-term Democratic congressman with whom Lander had clashed over their stances on Israel’s war on Gaza. Lander, who like Goldman is Jewish, is an outspoken critic of Israel, and has said the country is guilty of genocide in Gaza.
It was an issue that had been key for some voters.
“I know him as someone who shows up, and also because he’s taken a moral stand on Gaza, and that was really important to me,” said Kate Dalton, who had volunteered for Lander’s campaign.
Here’s Adam’s report from the victory party:
In the months leading up to New York’s primary election, 32-year-old political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier faced a barrage of negative ads. Super Pacs supporting her opponent – the veteran incumbent Adriano Espaillat – spent millions trying to stop her. And as an endorsement from Avila Chevalier’s fellow Democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, boosted her odds, the attacks turned racist, with false accusations suggesting she was lying about her Dominican ethnicity.
But yesterday, she defied predictions and seized a stunning win in New York’s 13th congressional district, which spans upper Manhattan, including Harlem, and parts of The Bronx – with more than 49% of the vote. If she wins the general election in November, she will be the first Dominican woman elected to Congress.
During her victory speech, at a jubilant watch party at a popular Puerto Rican restaurant uptown, Avila Chevalier called the result “a new dawn” for her district.
I have faith in the future that I know we are stepping into today. No longer will we accept the politics that throw scraps at us and act like we should be grateful for them.
Avila Chevalier’s win marks a remarkable achievement for an unabashedly pro-Palestinian doctoral student and community organizer with no prior experience in office.
It also cements the role of New York City’s mayor as a formidable kingmaker for the left, and that of the Democratic Socialists of America – which backed both Mamdani and Avila Chevalier – as a surging force in US elections. All three congressional candidates backed by the mayor (in what some observers had viewed as a gamble) won seats yesterday, as did nine out of 10 of DSA’s candidates.
More in Alice’s report:
Trump accuses oil companies of gas price ‘gouging’ and says DOJ will probe
In a late-night post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said he had instructed the justice department to investigate “the big oil companies” for not lowering gas prices at the pump in line with falling prices.
“In other words, customers are being ‘gouged’,” he said, without naming any specific companies.
Here’s the full post:
The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil. Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being “gouged.” I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!
Per our earlier post, public defence investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Adriano Espaillat, the powerful five-term incumbent who chairs the Hispanic caucus in Congress, in New York’s diverse 13th congressional district, which covers Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
Chevalier was backed by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had a clean sweep with wins from Brad Lander and Claire Valdez meaning all three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries.
Here’s a clip of Chevalier celebrating her win.
Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison
A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received unusually harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison on Tuesday in a closely watched case that was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent.
After a three-week jury trial, the nine activists were all found guilty of a slew of criminal charges in March, stemming from a Fourth of July protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, south of Fort Worth. The demonstrators arrived late at night with a plan to set off fireworks as part of a noise demonstration to show solidarity with those detained inside. A few of the protesters spontaneously broke off from the main group and vandalized cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van and broke a security camera. When a police officer arrived on the scene and drew his weapon, one of the activists fired an AR-15 from the woods, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived.
Benjamin Song, who fired the gun at the police officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Song was convicted of attempted murder of an officer of the United States, as well as firearm and explosives charges. He was also convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists. He faced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.
Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto and Meagan Morris were sentenced to 50 years in prison. Maricela Rueda, another demonstrator, was sentenced to 70 years in prison. All six were convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorist, and explosive charges. Rueda was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record.
US Senate passes war powers resolution challenging Trump’s Iran war authority
The US Senate approved a war powers resolution preventing Donald Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran, delivering the president a significant but symbolic rebuke over a conflict that has proven unpopular with the American public.
The resolution passed by a 50-48 vote, with four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky – breaking with their party to support its adoption. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, was the sole Democrat to vote against the resolution.
The measure, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, would require the president to seek Congress’s authorization to use military force against Iran. It comes after Trump dispatched JD Vance to Switzerland to negotiate a settlement that would resolve the conflict the US began alongside Israel in February.
Man arrested near Trump’s reflecting pool plans to fight obscenity charge
A Washington DC resident arrested this week near the National Mall’s reflecting pool told the Guardian he planned to fight the charges, as Donald Trump continues to blame vandals for the botched renovation of the pool.
After the Trump administration spent $14.2m renovating the body of water in front of the Lincoln Memorial to turn it “American flag” blue in time for the US’s 250th birthday next month, the pool has been beset with algae blooms and peeling polyurethane liner. Trump has claimed, without evidence, that the pool had been slashed with a knife.
Earlier this week, Trump said on social media that six people had been arrested “for the damage they did to our country’s now beautiful Reflecting Pool”.
So far, the actual charges filed against people arrested at or near the reflecting pool have not included doing any damage at all.
More here:
Elsewhere in New York, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F Kennedy, was unsuccessful in his bid to revive the political legacy of the US’s most vaunted political family and win in a race dominated by money from AI-focused Super Pacs.
Longtime New York politician Micah Lasher won the primary in New York’s 12th district, beating out Kennedy and George Conway, the Republican turned vocal Trump critic, among others in a crowded field of Democrats hoping to succeed the long-serving representative Jerry Nadler.
Late Tuesday, Donald Trump celebrated on Truth Social the defeat of Conway while also commenting on the “Communists running in badly failing Blue States”.
“America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!” Trump posted early Wednesday.
Mamdani-backed candidates win big in New York primary
Hello and welcome to our US politics liveblog.
Three congressional candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, won their closely watched primaries on Tuesday, beating out incumbents or incumbent-backed candidates supported by the Democratic establishment.
Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, defeated the two-term incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman in NY-10.
Political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier won against five-term incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat in NY-13 in a stunning upset.
And in NY-7, Claire Valdez beat out Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso – the handpicked successor of Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress who is considered a progressive giant of New York City politics.
This clean sweep for Mamdani is a clear indicator of his growing influence – and that of his ascendant progressive movement – over the Democratic party.
“The old politics that got us into this crisis is not the politics that’s going to get us out of this crisis,” Mamdani said at a watch party for Valdez.
In other developments:
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In Maryland, Adrian Boafo won the extremely crowded primary race to succeed Steny Hoyer, the longest-serving House Democrat and a longtime member of leadership who is retiring at the end of his 23rd term. Boafo, a state delegate, defeated the former US Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the building on January 6, and businesswoman Quincy Bareebe.
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April McClain Delaney fended off her predecessor, the former Democratic congressman David Trone, who sought to reclaim his seat in Maryland’s sixth district after an unsuccessful bid for Senate two years ago.
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Nancy Lacore, a three-star navy rear-admiral fired by Pete Hegseth last year in the defense secretary’s purge of senior US military officials, has won the Democratic nomination in a runoff for a closely watched congressional race in South Carolina.
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South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, won the Republican nomination for governor, defeating Trump-backed lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.
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In Utah, former congressman Ben McAdams, a political moderate, won the primary to compete in a newly drawn Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City.
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Donald Trump is slated to meet with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, in the Oval office on Wednesday.
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Later Wednesday, Trump will also be hosting the opening of The Great American State Fair, an event held by the Freedom 250, an organization run by Trump supporters to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary and run counter to America250, the nonpartisan body set up by Congress a decade ago to oversee the commemoration.
