President Donald Trump is expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at the White House Thursday afternoon to discuss a path forward on the legislative impasse on Capitol Hill, a source familiar with the meeting said.
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The meeting comes a day after Trump suddenly canceled the signing ceremony of major housing legislation that passed with broad bipartisan support. The president told Senate Republicans on Wednesday that they must first pass the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require voters to present additional ID and proof of citizenship to cast ballots, despite being repeatedly advised that the bill lacks the votes to pass.
Johnson needs the president’s support to break the deadlock in the House, where Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has been blocking all legislation until the SAVE Act is passed. One version of the measure has passed the House, but it has stalled in the Senate.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Trump’s schedule, their meeting is slated for 2 p.m. ET in the Oval Office.
The House speaker repeatedly said Wednesday that Republicans must rely on the reconciliation process to address the SAVE Act because it would allow them to pass it in the Senate with only a simple majority. But there is skepticism that such a plan would work, even from Luna and other supporters of the SAVE Act.
Johnson defended the president’s decision to throw the housing bill into limbo, saying that Trump was making a “point” by canceling the signing ceremony.
“This is how the process plays out. Sometimes it’s slow, it’s a grind, it’s a deliberative legislative body, that’s what happens. So keep the faith, we’re going to get it all done,” said the speaker, who also predicted that the president would ultimately sign the housing measure within the 10-day window the Constitution sets for the president to sign bills before they automatically become law.
“The president, I believe, is going to sign that bill. He delayed it, and we’re going to go — I’m going to talk with him tomorrow about that, and we will work through the process as we always do thats how it works around here,” the speaker told reporters.
In support of Trump’s effort to pass the SAVE America Act, Luna is leading a group of Republicans in blocking any legislation from being voted on in the House until Congress passes the election bill.
On Wednesday afternoon, Trump met behind closed doors at the Capitol with Senate Republicans who emerged saying that the president stressed the need to pass the SAVE America Act.
“The President had one, one clear message: SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “That election integrity is so important to the, to this republic that we need to pass that bill, and everything else pales in comparison to that.” Marshall added, “What he said is that the SAVE America Act is exponentially more important than the housing bill.”
In March, Trump vowed not to sign any legislation until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, though he has signed several bills into law since then.
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