JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Congress passed a law to bring the cost of housing down. President Trump was supposed to sign it today on Capitol Hill. But then he canceled at the very last minute and had a heated meeting with Senate Republicans. NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel was outside of the room, and he joins us now from the Capitol. Hey.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: This sounds like quite the workday for you. What's it like up there on the Hill?
MCDANIEL: It was super weird. It's been weird all day. Congressional Republicans have tried to focus on the cost of living throughout this Congress. This signing was a chance to do that. They had the whole area set up. There were flags. There was a stage. There was a podium with the presidential seal. And then it was all quickly taken down after the president canceled.
SUMMERS: Why did he back out?
MCDANIEL: Well, he's been throwing up lots of hurdles for Republicans, particularly Senate Republicans. He wants them to pass his election security legislation. It's called the SAVE America Act. That would take roughly 60 votes - or exactly 60 votes. And there are only 53 Republicans in the Senate. And the Senate Republican leader, John Thune, has said the Senate is bound by arithmetic. So out of frustration that this can't pass, the president backed out of the signing. And he's also blocking the renewal of a key spy law and holding up the confirmation of his pick for director of national intelligence. So even before his appearance at this lunch with Senate Republicans this afternoon, things were pretty tense.
SUMMERS: What can you tell us about what happened inside that lunch?
MCDANIEL: Well, part of the focus appeared to be a resolution that Congress passed yesterday. It instructs the president to remove the U.S. military from the war with Iran. It's not legally binding. But given that Congress has the power to regulate military conflict and the president has refused to get congressional approval for the war, it was still a huge deal. Senator Bill Cassidy said the president asked in this meeting why anyone would vote for a war powers act resolution. Cassidy says he replied that Congress hasn't been briefed, that there are questions about what has been achieved, that the war isn't going as well as the administration has claimed.
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BILL CASSIDY: At which point, I think the president said something negative about me. I perceived it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know. And I'm not going to be bullied when I feel like I'm asking a question the American people need to know. And so at that point, it began to escalate.
MCDANIEL: It began to escalate. Trump was later asked by reporters about the war powers vote. And he again pushed for Republicans to pass his election security law, the SAVE America Act. Some background - Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana, voted to impeach Trump after his supporters disrupted the peaceful transfer of power at the Capitol insurrection back on January 6, 2021. This year, Trump backed a successful primary challenge against Cassidy. And since then, Cassidy has been a bit of a free agent.
SUMMERS: OK. So things seem quite tense on the Senate side. What about with House Republicans - things going better there?
MCDANIEL: Well, they had to call off some votes this afternoon because House Republicans, upset over the fate of the election security bill, the SAVE America Act, refused to allow even Republican party line bills to come up for a vote. But that was more about being in solidarity with the president, even if it means frustrating some other members of GOP leadership and rank-and-file lawmakers.
SUMMERS: So where does this leave that housing legislation that Congress passed?
MCDANIEL: There are a couple different options. One is that President Trump just decides to sign it. He gets over his concerns, stuff gets unstuck in Congress ahead of the midterms, and things move forward. Or the president doesn't sign it after Congress sends it over, and it becomes law automatically after 10-ish days it goes without a signature. Or maybe he could decide to veto it. I mean, it passed with huge bipartisan majorities initially. But he could still decide that he wants to use it as leverage. He didn't respond to shouted questions from reporters today about his plans.
SUMMERS: NPR's Eric McDaniel at the Capitol. Thank you.
MCDANIEL: Thank you, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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