White House: Trump's SAVE Act threat won't apply to ending DHS shutdown

The White House said President Trump's threats not to sign legislation until the SAVE Act is passed won't apply to Homeland Security funding.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's recent threat not to sign any legislation until Congress passes voting restrictions won't apply to ending the weekslong shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, according to a White House spokesperson.

Trump said the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act "MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE." The legislation would, among other things, require voters to prove their citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections and bolster photo ID requirements.

"I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed," he wrote in a March 8 post on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump then cast doubt that the House-passed version of the legislation, saying he wouldn't support a "WATERED DOWN VERSION" of the bill and also wanted a near-total ban on mail-in voting.

Trump's nebulous decree immediately put him at odds with GOP leaders in Congress, who have been urging a swift end to the ongoing funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security over Democrats' calls for immigration enforcement reform. As airport security lines have grown painstakingly long in some places, the intensifying impacts of the shutdown are starting to hit Americans more acutely.