By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
MIAMI, March 8 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to withhold his signature from any other legislation until Congress passes a Republican-backed voting bill, the latest escalation in his push to impose stricter voter requirements ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, laid down a tough marker for the SAVE America Act, which passed the Republican-led House of Representatives in February but faces an uphill battle in the Senate, also controlled by Republicans. The measure would need at least 60 votes in the Senate to overcome the chamber’s filibuster rules, meaning it needs Democratic support that currently appears unlikely.
“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” wrote Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Doral, Florida, golf club.
The SAVE America bill would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and would impose criminal penalties on election officials who register anyone without the required documentation.
Trump’s warning comes days after he threatened to bypass Congress entirely by issuing an executive order to unilaterally impose voter identification requirements if lawmakers fail to act.
He has previously attempted to impose similar voter eligibility rules through executive action. A federal judge in 2025 blocked parts of an executive order that sought to require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
The shifting tactics, floating executive action one week and vowing to block unrelated legislation the next, reflect Trump’s effort to pressure Congress into adopting his preferred election rules.
Whether Trump would follow through on his latest vow to not sign other legislation was unclear. If lawmakers pass a bill and he takes no action for 10 days while Congress is in session, the measure becomes law without his signature.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has said he supports the voter eligibility legislation but has resisted calls from Trump and some conservative activists to weaken the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass it, saying there is not enough support within the Republican conference to change the chamber’s 60-vote threshold.
Democratic Party leaders say the legislation attempts to suppress the vote and undermine their electoral chances at a time when they are favored by independent analysts to take control of the House.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday Democrats would not support the bill. He called the legislation “Jim Crow 2.0,” a reference to the racial segregation laws in the U.S. that restricted Black voting rights, and said it would “disenfranchise tens of millions of people.”
If Trump refuses to sign other legislation until it passes, Schumer said, “There will be total gridlock in the Senate.”
Republicans have been jarred by a string of Democratic special election wins, and Trump’s last two years in office could be complicated if Democrats have a majority in the House.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Katharine Jackson and Steve Holland; Editing by Sergio Non, Bernadette Baum, Alexandra Hudson and Mark Porter)
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