On MI Senate Floor, McMorrow Slams Trump for Blocking Affordable Housing Bill in Favor of SAVE Act

“The President is holding hostage the most significant federal housing legislation we’ve seen in decades. His ransom? Your right to vote.”

MICHIGAN — This morning on the Michigan Senate floor, Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow detailed the harm to Michigan taxpayers that will come from Trump blocking a bipartisan housing bill in an attempt to pass the SAVE Act.

McMorrow detailed on the floor what Trump’s move means for Michigan: while Trump denies Michiganders affordable housing and the right to vote, Michigan is taking action on both. Michigan is on track to build or rehabilitate more than 115,000 homes and is passing sweeping voting rights legislation.

“The President is holding hostage the most significant federal housing legislation we’ve seen in decades — canceling an opportunity to build more homes and drive your costs down in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. His ransom? Your right to vote,” she said in the speech.

View the speech here:

Find the full speech transcript below:

Thank you, Madam President. I’d like my remarks printed in the journal.

Colleagues, I’d like to draw your attention to the callous actions of the President yesterday.

There was just a bill. A housing bill. The most serious thing Congress has done to cut red tape, build more housing, and lower housing costs in a generation.

It passed with sweeping support from both parties - 358 to 32 in the House, and 85 to 5 in the Senate. A bill signing was scheduled. The stage was built. The podium and signing desk were placed.

But 90 minutes before the bill signing, the President canceled the ceremony.

The legislation would have made it easier to build homes. It would have stopped Wall Street investors from buying up the houses our families are trying to buy. It would have protected affordable housing in our rural communities — and so much more.

In Michigan, the average home now costs nearly $270,000. To afford that home, a family needs to make well over $100,000 a year.

The median household income in Michigan is around $70,000, $30,000 short. The average age of a first-time homebuyer is 35-40 years old—an all-time high. Why? It’s simply out of reach for more and more of our residents. This bill wouldn't have fixed all of it. But it was a start.

So why did the President walk away?

Because he wants to overhaul our elections and make it significantly harder for millions of Michiganders to vote.

The SAVE Act would require people to show proof of citizenship that matches their current legal name - documents like a passport and a birth certificate.

Only 39.7% of Michiganders hold a passport.

That means a majority of our citizens could be disenfranchised.

Nationally, almost 80% of women choose to change their last names when they get married…meaning the name on their birth certificate would not match the name on their drivers license.

In Michigan, over 2.2 million married women changed their surnames.

That means A QUARTER of the 8 million voting-age adults in Michigan could be disenfranchised.

So this is the trade the American people are watching this week. The President is holding hostage the most significant federal housing legislation we’ve seen in decades — canceling an opportunity to build more homes and drive your costs down in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. His ransom? Your right to vote.

In Michigan, we know that we can secure our elections AND build housing. Michiganders made it clear in 2022 with the passage of Prop 2. We passed nine days of early voting, allowed for anyone to vote via absentee ballot - ballots which are already available today for the August primary. We guaranteed paid postage on absentee ballots, and a way to track them to ensure they’re received. We made Michigan a place where it is easier to vote and easier for your vote to be counted — not harder. Michigan’s elections are now ranked among the strongest and most secure in the country.

We also passed record funding to build hundreds of thousands of units of housing. Through the incredible work of this legislature prioritizing housing in our budget, and of MSHDA under Governor Whitmer - we’ve built or rehabbed nearly 100,000 homes - significant progress towards closing the gap on our housing needs to meet demand, and driving costs down.

Protecting our rights and lowering costs are not only both possible, but essential.

Your government works for you. Your tax dollars are yours. And the right to vote is not a bargaining chip. It is not something a president gets to dangle over your head until you give him what he wants.

The people of Michigan are not pawns in this President’s game. They are taxpayers. They are homeowners and renters and the people working two jobs to become one or the other. They are voters. And they are watching.

So to every Michigander who heard this week that your housing got cancelled so your vote could get harder. Here in Michigan, we will keep fighting for you - protecting your right to vote, building more housing - and we reject this callous power grab by the president. Colleagues, I ask you all to join me in doing the same. Michiganders are counting on you.

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