President Trump plunged Congress into chaos on Wednesday as he abruptly canceled the signing of a celebrated bipartisan housing measure and issued new demands that Republicans pass legislation imposing voting restrictions despite their protests that the votes don\u2019t exist to do so.<\/p>\n
Just hours before a tense closed-door session with Senate Republicans, Mr. Trump again blindsided his allies on Capitol Hill by declaring that he would not sign a housing measure at the center of congressional efforts to rein in costs, even as the stage for the ceremony was being erected in the Capitol\u2019s Statuary Hall.<\/p>\n
The bill signing had been intended to project the image of a unified Republican Party working to address Americans\u2019 concerns over high costs ahead of the midterm elections, an issue that polls show to be top of mind for voters.<\/p>\n
But in summarily dismissing his party\u2019s heralded domestic achievement as \u201cof minor importance,\u201d as he put it in a social media post, the president emboldened right-wingers in the House who had been seething over the housing measure. Not long after the president\u2019s post, they essentially shut down the floor in protest of the Senate\u2019s failure to approve the voting bill, leaving the Republican agenda stalled in advance of a Fourth of July recess.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump\u2019s decision further inflamed weeks of tumult that have marked an increasingly bitter relationship between the president and prominent members of his own party in the Senate, particularly Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s meeting was already expected to be fraught, as Mr. Trump has been in a simmering feud with Mr. Thune<\/a> over his refusal to weaken the filibuster to pass the election overhaul bill, which would require proof of citizenship to register and substantially reduce the opportunity for voting by mail.<\/p>\n As he scuttled the housing ceremony, Mr. Trump once again urged Mr. Thune to eliminate the filibuster and to \u201cget the bad Republicans to approve\u201d his voting legislation, known as the SAVE America Act. But Mr. Thune has said repeatedly that there is not enough support among Republicans to do so, a reality that has been demonstrated in test votes.<\/p>\n Lawmakers from both parties were shocked by the president\u2019s decision to call off the housing ceremony. Many of them regarded it as the latest move by Mr. Trump to undermine the efforts of his own party to protect its congressional majorities in the November elections.<\/p>\n At the moment that Mr. Trump sent his social media post, House Republican leaders were celebrating their legislative success, and Mr. Thune was on the Senate floor. As he left for his office, he appeared almost dazed, telling reporters he had little to say about the president\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n Hours later, Mr. Thune said that the decision to cancel the bill signing was the president\u2019s call, but noted that \u201cit\u2019s an affordability issue, and eventually I hope he\u2019ll find his way to sign it.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who is among the most vulnerable Republicans running for re-election this year, called Trump\u2019s announcement a \u201ccomplete surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, when Mr. Trump arrived at the Capitol, he and Mr. Thune tried to appear harmonious, chatting cordially. The president ignored a shouted question about their relationship, instead telling reporters that the war in Iran \u2014 which he has said is over \u2014 was \u201cgoing very well\u201d and then criticizing Democrats for \u201cpushing communists\u201d as election candidates.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump was initially invited to the Capitol by Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, to address a weekly lunch gathering he runs that typically draws the more conservative faction of G.O.P. senators. It was a break from norms, since a president would typically be invited by the party\u2019s elected leader to address the entire conference at its regular luncheon on Tuesdays, or a special gathering hosted by the leadership.<\/p>\n Mr. Scott, who lost badly to Mr. Thune in his bid for majority leader in 2024<\/a> after pitching himself as the Trump-aligned candidate, said he had been speaking to the president on the phone last Friday about a number of issues, including the voting bill, when he suggested that the president come to the meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI just bring people to lunch and create a conversation, and I think there\u2019s a greater chance something good will happen,\u201d said Mr. Scott, who said he hoped Republicans would also discuss a plan to avoid a government shutdown at the end of September. But, he added, Mr. Trump \u201ccontinues to want to pass the SAVE America Act, and there\u2019s other issues \u2014 cost of living, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Mr. Trump confirmed that the election bill that he has called critical to guarding against Republican losses in November would be a central focus.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019re just going to talk about SAVE America,\u201d he told reporters in Reading, Pa., adding: \u201cWe have to pass it. So we\u2019re going to have to talk about that, and many other things.\u201d<\/p>\n The president\u2019s visit to the Senate also unfolded amid growing dissent within his party over his handling of the war with Iran. On Tuesday, the Senate adopted a resolution directing Mr. Trump to end the conflict or seek congressional authorization to continue it, a mostly symbolic but nevertheless remarkable reprimand<\/a> of the president, made possible by G.O.P. defections.<\/p>\n Hours later, Mr. Trump denounced the four Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting the measure, calling them \u201closers\u201d in a social media post and accusing them of giving \u201caid and comfort\u201d to Iran. But an even broader group of Republican senators, including some of the president\u2019s closest allies, have questioned the deal his administration is negotiating to end the war.<\/p>\n