Congress’ marquee housing legislation aimed at increasing the country’s housing supply is set to become law at midnight — without President Donald Trump’s signature.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump, who could still change his mind and sign the legislation, posted on Friday.
The bill, known as the “21st Century ROAD to Housing,” is the first major housing legislation to come out of Congress in more than three decades and represents one of the biggest legislative achievements this year for both chambers. Trump repeatedly pushed for the legislation — before abruptly canceling a signing ceremony and calling the bill a “yawn” relative to election reforms he wants passed.
His indifference to the housing package could complicate things for Republicans, who were eager to address cost of living as part of their agenda. It was supposed to be a policy win that they could easily tout on the trail, once they got it through the complicated process of getting the votes for it.
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Instead of becoming law with fanfare, the legislation is expected to become law through Trump’s inaction for the 10 days after Congress presented him with the bill. It is on track to avoid a pocket veto because Congress was technically in session for that period of time.
The president had long outlined the bill as a priority. In his January State of the Union address, he called on Congress to limit institutional investors’ ability to purchase single-family homes, which the bill addressed.
The legislation establishes a limit on large investors that own more than 350 single-family homes, enforced through fines by the federal government.
It also requires local governments to loosen some environmental review standards to fast track housing development, raises the cap on community banks’ lending ability and allows federal funds administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be used for the construction of new homes.
Altogether, the legislation includes Senate and House priorities and has bipartisan backing.
It was also endorsed by the White House, through its countless iterations, several times.
A senior White House official even described the package as “the best path forward to deliver an affordability win for the administration [and] for congressional Republicans” to NOTUS after the Senate passed its first version in early May.
After the president canceled the signing ceremony for the bill, which was caught up in a Senate-versus-House standoff for several months, lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- Louisiana) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R- South Dakota), were caught off guard.
Trump began echoing what some Republicans had said privately throughout the negotiations: that the package was a “[Sen. Elizabeth] Warren centric housing bill.”
Warren (D-Massachusetts), who spearheaded the Senate’s push on the bill as the ranking member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, immediately seized the opportunity to tout Democratic lawmakers’ commitment to address the housing crisis the country is facing.
“Donald Trump may not care, but Democrats do,” Warren said on Capitol Hill in late June, shortly after the signing ceremony for the bill was canceled.
“We’re not in the majority in the House. We’re not in the majority in the Senate. We sure as hell don’t control the White House, but nonetheless we helped push through the biggest housing bill to lower costs, to help renters and to help homeowners.”
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