Trump abruptly cancels housing bill signing

• Key insight: President Trump canceled a White House ceremony to sign a housing bill passed by the House and Senate this week with broad bipartisan majorities. 
• Forward look: The bill passed with veto-proof majorities, but if the president neither signs nor vetoes the bill, it can languish indefinitely. 
• What's at stake: The bill has a number of community bank riders, including a pair of provisions on brokered deposits. 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has canceled the signing of a major housing bill that passed through both the House and the Senate this week with overwhelming bipartisan support. 

Trump posted on social media that he is canceling the vote until Congress passes a package of voting reforms that has proven much more divisive, and that Republican leaders have insisted they do not have the votes to pass. Republicans have long sought some kind of voter ID legislation, while Democrats say that the bill will make it harder for minorities and women to vote. 

"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 in a post to Truth Social.

The bill passed both the House and the Senate with veto-proof majorities, but simply delaying the signing of the bill would stymie the legislation indefinitely. That will likely prove frustrating for House Financial Service Committee and Senate Banking Committee leaders who've been negotiating for months to get a version they all agree to. 

The cancellation came as GOP leadership in the House stood up in a press conference touting the bill, which they say would cut red tape for local housing construction. 

The bill also includes a number of community bank riders, including a pair of brokered deposit bills and ones that would allow more small banks to qualify for a less rigorous oversight schedule, as well as a partial ban on institutional investors owning housing. 

Can Republicans overturn a veto? Will they?

The canceled signing sets off a 10-day period during which Trump can either sign or veto the bill, assuming that since a signing was scheduled, the bill was actually delivered to the president. 

Should Trump do neither in 10 days, the bill would automatically become law. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a press conference on Wednesday that Trump wants to see progress on the SAVE Act. The political calculus to passing that bill — even if Republicans eliminate the filibuster in the Senate, necessitating only a simple majority — is tricky, especially since the Senate parliamentarian is likely to nix the measure from any kind of budget reconciliation bill, which also requires only a simple majority. 

The question then becomes whether Trump will veto the bill, and whether Republicans would overturn a veto, especially as they head into what's expected to be a punishing election season for them. 

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"I'm not expecting him to veto it, but I also wasn't expecting him not to sign it today," said Ian Katz, a managing director at Capital Alpha Partners. 

People familiar with discussions among key GOP lawmakers say that they are still assuming Trump will sign the bill within the 10-day period. Those familiar with lawmakers' thinking say they haven't yet figured out what comes next if he vetoes the bill. 

If Trump does veto the bill, he would likely put significant pressure on Republicans not to overrule him. Although the bill passed with broad Republican support, it's not clear if all the same Republicans would be willing to make the same vote again if it directly defies Trump. 

"Were this to happen, we believe Trump would pressure Republicans not to override," said Jaret Seiberg, a TD Cowen analyst, in a note. "That becomes the real risk to the bill."