Congress hadn’t done much worth celebrating in recent years. Its members have largely been lawmakers in name only as legislating has ground to a near halt. But this week, to address skyrocketing costs for renters and potential homeowners alike, the House joined the Senate to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the most sweeping housing law in decades.
Leave it to President Donald Trump to completely ruin the mood.
Trump’s petulance changed the lesson to a reminder of why legislative wins are so rare these days.
Trump abruptly canceled Wednesday’s planned signing ceremony for the law because he’s angry the Senate hasn’t passed his misnamed SAVE America Act. Thus, the president turned the spotlight away from members of Congress, who were all set to celebrate a rare bipartisan triumph, and toward himself and his doomed and wrongheaded election bill. As of Wednesday evening, it was unclear when Trump will sign the bill — or if he ever will.
Congress had proved it’s still possible to get things done in Washington, but Trump’s petulance changed the lesson to a reminder of why legislative wins are so rare these days. A major reason is that Trump cares little about legislation that doesn’t immediately benefit him.
The housing act Congress passed is a 380-page tome of policy prescriptions aimed at boosting the supply of available housing. Negotiations over the text took months of haggling among Democrats and Republicans and between the House and Senate. But the final bill was overwhelmingly approved: The Senate passed it 85-5 and the House 358-32.
Housing costs are a top concern to voters looking for relief. The combination of higher interest rates and inflation has made homes difficult for homeowners to sell and hard for would-be buyers to purchase. According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, “existing home prices are up 54 percent nationwide since 2020 and remain nearly five times median incomes—far above the standard ratio of three that held in the 1990s.” The net effect has placed finding affordable apartments in most cities, let alone homeownership even in some more rural areas, firmly out of reach for millions of Americans. Thus, housing costs are a top concern to voters.
The newly passed bill takes a slow-burn approach to ending the housing supply shortage that some estimates place around 4 million to 5 million units. Federal regulations surrounding manufactured homes and environmental regulations were loosened to encourage quicker, cheaper construction. Other provisions include developing a federal zoning plan model for local businesses to adopt and expanding grant programs for cities building new homes.
In other words, it’s the kind of package Trump can be expected to show little interest. Shortcuts are Trump’s preference in all matters, and a bill expected to take years to show results goes firmly against his political instincts. From his vanity renovation and construction projects to his efforts to end the Iran war, he always favors short-term gratification and applause over the long game.
The bill also shows legislators are still willing to plant gardens whose flowers won’t bloom and fruit won’t ripen till much later.
Likewise, the bill’s bipartisan origin seems to have created ambivalence in a leader whose movement paints Democrats as the enemy of everything good. Small wonder, then, that less than a day after its passage, Trump dismissed the bill — which he supported — in a social media post as being “of minor importance compared to lower interest rates.” In the process, Trump used his usual demeaning name for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the bill’s chief architects. It’s clear that any victory Democrats can share counts as a loss in Trump’s eyes.
While Warren’s housing bill sailed through Congress after hard work and compromise, the election bill Trump is championing is a hyperpartisan mess that would make it harder for Americans to register to vote. The president is convinced that rewriting the rules is the only way for the GOP to win the midterms, but frustrated Senate Republicans are unwilling to tank the filibuster to pass it.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act prioritizes long-term solutions over quick fixes. Experts and industry groups agree it won’t cause housing costs to drop overnight, and Trump might have a point that the bill may not deliver much for Republicans this fall. Voters looking for mortgage relief or lower rent before the midterms are unlikely to find it.
But proving that our political system isn’t broken beyond repair is itself worthwhile. This bill’s passage at least indicates that lawmakers are willing to do something to address Americans’ needs. The bill also shows legislators are still willing to plant gardens whose flowers won’t bloom and fruit won’t ripen till much later. A more patient president would see that Republicans passing a sensible bill that aims to help Americans blunts some of the criticism dragging the party’s chances of success this fall. But for Trump, the only way he can see to improve those odds is to rig the game itself.
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