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Despite rare and overwhelming bipartisan support, a US bill aimed at lowering the cost of housing for Americans is being held hostage by Donald Trump.

The president said he won’t sign the 21st Century Road to Housing Act until the Senate meets his demand to pass the Save America Act, which would dramatically change voting regulations by requiring proof of citizenship at voter registration and significantly curtail mail-in voting.

The housing bill, which was passed with large majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives after months of negotiations, represents one of the biggest efforts in decades to increase the supply of housing and reduce prices. On Wednesday morning, however, Trump claimed it was of “minor importance”.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, blasted Trump’s decision, saying: “It’s utterly amazing. Trump is running away from one of the very few accomplishments could actually help the American people.”

Trump abruptly cancels plan to sign bipartisan bill aimed at lowering cost of housing

Democrats and Republicans had both cheered the bill, which was approved ahead of November’s midterm elections, in which concerns about affordability are expected to loom large in the minds of the voters who will decide control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s term.

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Republican senator in shouting match with Trump over Iran war

A Republican senator who lost re-election after Trump endorsed his primary challenger said he got into a heated argument with the president on Wednesday amid discontent in Congress over the war with Iran and Trump’s demand that the GOP pass a bill that would impose a host of new rules on voting nationwide.

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Federal judge blocks Trump effort to make voters show proof of citizenship

A US federal court blocked Trump’s attempt to regulate elections via executive order, a win for democracy advocates who have fought back against the US president’s push to take power over voting.

Trump issued an executive order on elections, including a documentary proof of citizenship requirement that would have necessitated that people show passports, birth certificates or other documentation when they registered to vote, or changed their registration.

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Trump under pressure to back up claim of sabotage at reflecting pool

Trump and the Department of the Interior are facing growing pressure to release photo and video evidence substantiating their claims of sabotage at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington.

The $14.7m renovation of the landmark has descended into a farce of algae blooms, peeling paint and dead ducks just days before the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Crews have been seen erecting fencing near the area.

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Trump says he’s ordered investigation into oil companies over alleged price gouging

Trump said on Wednesday that he had instructed the US Department of Justice to investigate oil companies for alleged price gouging, accusing them of not lowering gas prices enough amid conflict in the Middle East.

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Judge orders Trump administration to explain tarp obscuring Kennedy Center

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to explain why it placed a tarp over the Kennedy Center’s facade ⁠after the Republican leader’s ⁠name ​was removed from the building under a court order.

US district judge Christopher Cooper said the administration ⁠must report by 31 July “the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding” now in place at ⁠the iconic building. The tarp was installed as workers stripped ​Trump’s name in a predawn ‌operation this month ‌following an order from Cooper that the Trump administration unlawfully added ‌his name to the facade in December.

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Report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools

A new report sheds light on the unprecedented growth of the US government’s immigration surveillance arsenal, revealing fresh details about how spending on technology and AI tools to find and track migrants has soared to record levels during Trump’s second term.

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What else happened today:

• Former US congresswoman and Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced that she is finished backing the Republican party, aligning herself with TV rightwinger Tucker Carlson after his own high-profile rejection of the GOP just months ahead of the midterm elections.

• A group of 11 senators have sent a letter to Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr urging them to remove a federal website and “cease using federal resources to direct people to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers”.

• Elon Musk was no longer a trillionaire by the time markets closed on Wednesday. Plunging shares in Tesla and SpaceX dragged the tech magnate down to billionaire status. As of 4pm ET, Forbes listed Musk’s net worth as $970.2bn.

• Nasa’s Perseverance rover has detected complex carbon molecules in Martian rocks that are already in the spotlight for bearing potential signatures of ancient microbial life.

• Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp in Texas where 28 people died in a catastrophic flood last July, has filed for bankruptcy, according to court records.

• The army’s commander of its forces in Europe and Africa – who was memorably the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 – is unexpectedly stepping down from his post after just 18 months in the job, the army confirmed late on Tuesday.

Catching up? Here’s what happened on Tuesday 23 June.