Trump draws GOP ire by refusing so sign bipartisan housing bill, then scuffles with Republican senator - plus travel tips for Europe and the Midwest

**Christy Strawser** (0:01)
Welcome to On Deadline, your radio news from Odyssey newsrooms across the country.
I'm Christy Strawser, Odyssey's managing editor of news. Fault lines that were starting to show between President Donald Trump and the GOP cracked a little more openly this week when Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Trump got into a shouting match at a senatorial lunch in Washington DC.
Reports reveal that the spat reached a point where another senator had to pull Cassidy back down into his seat as the two verbally sparred. Why did it happen? The war in Iran is at the center of it. Trump called Republicans losers for voting against his war and called Cassidy a lunatic. Here's what else is happening in the wake of this division from KCBS in the Bay Area.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:46)
President Trump has canceled the signing of a bipartisan housing bill that the House had passed this week. The Senate had passed it as well. Instead, the president is pushing Republicans for the Voter ID Bill that he has long advocated for. Fornia's senior US. Senator Alex Padilla. Are you surprised that the president canceled this signing? I mean, there's not many times where Republicans and Democrats can agree on something, but here both chambers came together to pass his housing bill.

**Alex Padilla** (1:16)
Exactly. Very little of what Donald Trump says or does is surprising to anybody at this stage. But prices are up, left and right, healthcare, energy, housing, groceries, gas, the pump. Here he has something that will help the American people, and instead of signing it and maybe even taking some credit, he postpones it and pivots. Look, as you said, bipartisanship doesn't happen every day. And here we finally had the first in decades significant legislation to help people afford a home. One of the things that I'm most excited about is the ability for local governments to use their community development block grant funding for new housing construction.
I hope that without the president's signature, this bill will become law and we'll be able to help so many families throughout California and throughout the country.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:08)
So instead of signing the housing bill, the president is pushing for the voter ID bill. I know that you are certainly not a fan of that. Do you see any chance that Republicans are able to push through the voter ID bill?

**Alex Padilla** (2:21)
Look, I'm going to continue to do everything I can to block this bill. It is not just a voter ID bill. They talk about voter ID, but they don't give the details for people who think, well, I can show my driver's license and exercise my right to vote. That would not be allowed under this bill. This bill also seeks to give Trump's Department of Homeland Security access to all the personal private information of every voter in California and across the country. This bill seeks to ban vote by mail options, which are so safe and secure and convenient for so many voters.
It goes after trans rights and services. It does more than just the supposed voter ID. It's come up for votes repeatedly in the Senate, and continues to fail because not even 50 senators, Republican senators, are supportive.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:13)
Senator, I mentioned earlier Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much these days, but actually there's another thing that the two sides of the aisle agreed on, and that's the Senate approving a war powers resolution to block the military from resuming the war in Iran. Do you think there's simply war fatigue on both sides of the aisle at the Capitol?

**Alex Padilla** (3:36)
Well, I think there's a bit of war fatigue not just in both chambers of the Capitol, but finally seeing some of my Republican colleagues say and act publicly the way they tell us they feel privately. There's so many of them upset at the very beginning of Trump's war on Iran.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:53)
Is there political pressure in Washington? You are not up for reelection this year, but many of your colleagues on the Hill are. Is there political pressure to get this thing over with? So prices can come back down?

**Alex Padilla** (4:06)
Well, I think that's what has changed Trump's tune. You know, finally the approval ratings that have been plummeting, you know, catching up to him. He doesn't like the lower poll ratings. And if that's what's gotten us to, gotten him to change the tune in Iran, then so be it. But we have to pivot back to the struggle that so many American families are feeling as they're trying to make ends meet. And so again, the lower prices at the pump, that's great. Let's get this housing bill signed in to all help bring down the cost of rents, bring down the cost of mortgages, let's tackle groceries, let's tackle access to health care.