Last week, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was passed by Congress without Trump’s signature on the housing package that aims to lower the cost of housing. The reluctance to sign the package centers around the SAVE America Act, a large-scale voter suppression bill that Trump has admitted was the reason why he didn’t sign the housing package in protest of it not being passed by the Republican-led Senate.
The housing package that barely had any congressional opposition, except from Republicans in solidarity with Trump, aims to remove blockages to home construction and expand uses of federal housing funds. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act is deemed the largest housing bill in history, but President Trump wanted to put the bill on the backburner in order to fast track the process of disenfranchising voters.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” said Donald Trump.
The SAVE America Act is a wildly harmful bill that requires all eligible Americans to provide a passport or birth certificate when registering or re-registering to vote in federal elections. This requirement is costly and puts millions of people, especially marginalized Americans, at a stark disadvantage as 146 million American citizens do not own a passport in the United States and 69 million American women do not have their legal name reflected on their birth certificate, according to the Center for American Progress. Moreover, the bill would affect millions of transgender voters as well as their required legal documents may not reflect their names, if changed.
“The SAVE Act doesn’t save anything. It is a blatant attempt to silence voters and create more barriers that block millions from registering to vote, especially Black, brown and indigenous communities, women, and working families,” said Hasani Mitchell, Democracy and Economy Coordinator at NC Black Alliance.
Donald Trump’s refusal to sign the housing package points to a much larger issue: Republicans goal to maintain power and silence millions of voices. Around 56% of North Carolinians do not have passports and a birth certificate is hard to procure, especially in rural areas. There are also logistical issues to getting these documents such as transportation and DMV waits in addition to the cost.
The SAVE America Act is not democratic, it is unconstitutional and a blatant Republican attempt at an election power grab. North Carolina has had its own set of challenges when it comes to Republicans trying to meddle in our electoral processes for their own gain, so this is not our first rodeo.
North Carolinians will take a stand against this harmful voter suppression bill and we will not back down. We must call Sens. Thom Tillis (202-224-6342) and Ted Budd (202-225-4531) and tell them to stand up for our state’s electoral future by opposing the SAVE America Act.
