Housing bill standoff, Dobbs anniversary dominate a quiet press-release day

Trump canceled the planned signing ceremony Wednesday, tying the housing bill to passage of the SAVE America Act, a Republican elections measure. Three Democratic senators issued statements or video remarks demanding he proceed.

Sen. Gillibrand called the situation "ridiculous" and said that "if this is the president signaling his intent to veto this legislation, Congress must come together to override his veto, pass this commonsense bill into law, and get the American people the relief they desperately need."

Sen. Rosen noted the bill "will cut unnecessary red tape that gets in the way of building new housing" and said she was "outraged that Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing ceremony for this bipartisan bill."

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., appearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box," described the legislation as the first comprehensive congressional housing action in three decades. "I am a freshman senator, so in my first term to see something like this is amazing," she said, adding that five of her own bills were included in the final package. Blunt Rochester's comments are the freshman senator's most prominent national media appearance logged in this archive.

The fourth anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization generated releases from both parties Wednesday, with floor statements and a Senate resolution.

In a floor statement, Senate Majority Leader Thune said "Roe was, quite simply, terrible constitutional law" and argued that "when it comes to unborn Americans, we are failing to live up to" the principles of the Declaration of Independence. He added that Democratic colleagues "do everything they can to obscure the baby in this debate."

Sen. Daines introduced a resolution commemorating the anniversary. "Four years ago today was a pivotal moment in our nation's history: the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Since that day, countless unborn lives have been saved, but there remains more work to be done," Daines said. Fifteen Republican senators joined the resolution.

In her remarks at a Democratic press conference, Sen. Murray described witnesses at a forum Democrats hosted the day prior, including a woman told her baby's "brain and skull had not developed" who "had to stay pregnant for months, knowing that it would end in tragedy." Murray vowed: "There is just no way on God's green earth that is ever going to happen, this is not going to get swept under the rug."

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., issued a written statement saying "Republicans have only become more aggressive in their efforts to restrict reproductive freedom" in the four years since Dobbs.

The entire Senate Democratic Caucus signed onto a letter Wednesday demanding the United States Postal Service withdraw a proposed rule implementing President Trump's executive order on voting by mail. Multiple senators issued individual releases on the same letter, a coordinated rollout.

The letter, led by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told USPS: "We write for a second time regarding the unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform the United States Postal Service into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump."

Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, both D-Va., in their release noted that USPS did not respond to a prior April letter from 37 senators and has now issued a proposed rule. The senators wrote that the rule "seeks to create a centralized national absentee voter database with individualized barcodes connected to the voters' names under the control of the President" and warned the data would be "ripe for potential abuse or improper disclosure potentially imperiling the integrity of American elections."

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., noted in her release that "under the Trump Administration, voters have been routinely falsely identified as noncitizens," and that the senators demanded USPS comply with its "core mission of providing universal postal services to every American."

Forty-seven Democratic and independent senators signed a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins opposing proposed reductions in disability compensation for veterans with sleep apnea and tinnitus — both a pending VA draft rule and the Take Care of America's Veterans Act.

The letter, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., stated: "We write in strong opposition to a proposed reduction in benefits for more than one million veterans suffering from sleep apnea and tinnitus." The senators added that the legislation "would permanently implement the very policies that veterans, medical experts, and veterans service organizations have overwhelmingly opposed."

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a Marine Corps combat veteran and member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a Navy combat veteran, both issued separate releases on the same letter. Both releases quoted the senators' closing appeal to Collins: "At your confirmation hearing last year, you pledged, 'We're not going to balance budgets on the back of veterans' benefits.' We urge you to honor that commitment."

The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed, according to the letter, that nearly one million veterans would face reduced monthly disability compensation under the proposed changes. Tinnitus is described in both releases as the most common service-connected disability recognized by VA, with an estimated 3.6 million veterans receiving benefits.

Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats responded Wednesday to the Republican Farm Bill discussion draft, flagging what they called an unresolved gap on SNAP cuts.

Sen. Luján, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, joined Agriculture Committee Democrats in a joint statement: "This bill does not address the devastating cuts to SNAP or the shift to state taxpayers passed into law as part of HR 1."

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. — the first senator from California to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in over 30 years — issued a separate statement acknowledging bipartisan elements while saying the draft "still falls short. It does not provide any fix to the deep cuts to SNAP made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, meaning more families will suffer and go hungry." Schiff said the draft did include provisions he sought for specialty crop growers, including an emergency assistance framework and funding for specialty crop mechanization research.

Two Republican senators marked the first-year anniversary of the Rural Health Transformation Fund Wednesday, coinciding with the announcement of grant awards.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., announced $79 million in awards to 38 Kansas healthcare organizations under the Rural Health Transformation Program. "As a physician and former hospital CEO in Great Bend, I know better than anyone the unique challenges facing healthcare in our rural communities," Marshall said, adding he was "excited to have an administration that is not only supporting rural healthcare, but also using grant dollars to incentivize innovative methods to prevent and treat root causes of disease."

In a floor statement, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., credited Republicans with creating "the largest federal investment in rural healthcare in American history" through the Working Families Tax Cuts law. "Where a person lives should not determine whether they have access to high-quality medical care," Barrasso said, noting Wyoming received $205 million in the first round.

Sen. Gillibrand held a virtual press conference Wednesday condemning the Trump administration's military campaign in Iran and a newly announced agreement, calling both failures.

"The president launched this war with no strategy and no exit plan," Gillibrand said. "Months later, he claims to have secured a 'deal,' but it is painfully clear he has failed to achieve a single stated national security goal. There is no regime change, no dismantling of the Iranian military, and no end to their nuclear ambitions."

Gillibrand said the agreement includes "the immediate lifting of economic sanctions and the creation of a $300 billion reconstruction fund to rebuild the regime's economy" while leaving out enforcement mechanisms on Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile programs. She said she has "consistently opposed this conflict since its inception, repeatedly voting in favor of War Powers Resolutions."

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., reintroduced the Right to Vote Act Wednesday, which would create the first statutory federal right to vote and allow citizens to challenge in court any policy that restricts ballot access. Ten senators cosponsored the bill; Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa.-12, is introducing a House companion.

"With voting rights under attack in Georgia and across the country, I am reintroducing my legislation to empower voters to challenge in court any action taken by a state or local government that makes it harder to vote," Ossoff said.

The bill's introduction came the same day the full Democratic caucus signed the USPS vote-by-mail letter, making voting rights the broadest single-day Democratic theme in the release set — with the Right to Vote Act, the USPS letter, and the housing bill's linkage to the SAVE America Act elections measure all converging.

Three bipartisan bill introductions drew less attention Wednesday but crossed party lines on national security and public health.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., joined Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., to introduce the ECRA Penalty Increase Act, which would raise the maximum civil penalty for unlawful technology exports from $300,000 to $1.2 million per violation and quadruple the transaction-based penalty. "America's enemies are not stealing our technology so they can build better toasters," Kennedy said. "If a company or individual illegally hands over American technology to our adversaries, a slap on the wrist will not cut it."

Kennedy also joined Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., on the Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act, which would carve a Feres doctrine exception for servicemembers and veterans seeking civil claims tied to government negligence in sexual assault or harassment cases. "The Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act creates a narrow path for servicemembers and veterans to seek justice when the federal government failed to prevent or properly investigate abuse," Kennedy said. The bill is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the Service Women's Action Network.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., reintroduced the PASTEUR Act to incentivize antibiotic development. "Right now, we don't have the tools to address the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease experts are warning us that it will only get worse," Bennet said.

Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, D-Ga., welcomed news that DHS plans to scrap two Georgia immigrant detention facilities in Social Circle and Oakwood. "These things that were happening in the quiet of night, we shined a light on it, elevated it, people raised their voices and they got their victory," Warnock said.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., announced that his VA Home Loan Awareness Act — the first bill he introduced as a senator — cleared Congress as part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act package and heads to President Trump's desk. The legislation adds a disclosure to mortgage applications informing veterans of potential VA Home Loan eligibility. Only 13 percent of veterans currently use the program, according to the release.

Sen. Bennet introduced the Keep Kids in School Act, a grant program targeting chronic school absenteeism. "Since the pandemic, Colorado and our country's school absenteeism problem has only been exacerbated," Bennet said.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote to the State Department urging it to accurately document Azerbaijan's human rights abuses in its annual Country Reports, noting Tuesday marked 1,000 days since Armenian prisoners of war were detained following the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Signals

• volumeWednesday's 30 releases run 70.4 percent below the Wednesday average of 101.5, the lowest single-day total in the recent baseline window.
• coordinatedThe full Senate Democratic Caucus signed onto a single USPS vote-by-mail letter, generating at least three separate senator-branded releases within a two-hour window.
• coordinatedForty-seven Democratic and independent senators signed the VA disability benefits letter, with at least two senators (Gallego and Kelly) issuing individual branded releases on the same document.
• coordinatedFifteen Republican senators joined Sen. Daines in the Dobbs anniversary resolution, the largest single GOP co-signature bloc in today's release set.
• freshman firstSen. Sheehy, R-Mont., announced his first-ever introduced bill — the VA Home Loan Awareness Act — has cleared both chambers and heads to the president's desk.
• recessThe Senate is five days from the Independence Day state work period; no votes are currently scheduled.
• silent breaksSen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has been quiet for 51 days; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for 15 days — both notable given today's activity on veterans benefits and Dobbs, issues both have weighed in on historically.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC51d
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY15d
• Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY21d