This week, the Republican-led House easily passed a landmark housing bill on a 358-32 vote, following a similarly lopsided 85-5 vote in the GOP-led Senate. The grand total of Democrats voting against the legislation across both chambers? Zero.

As it turns out, the legislative success story was derailed, at least for now, by Donald Trump’s latest tantrum, but there’s another element to the developments that has gone largely overlooked.

In the aftermath of the president’s cancellation of Wednesday’s bill-signing ceremony, The New York Times reported that some congressional Democrats “had been anxious about helping Republicans pass a major housing bill that would give the G.O.P. a notable win on the affordability issues at the center of the midterm campaigns, and dilute Democratic attacks on rising costs.”

A day later, Democratic Rep. Ro Khana of California appeared on MS NOW and emphasized a related point on his party’s support for the housing bill:

Here’s the irony: I got asked by conservatives and some independent journalists, “Why are the Democrats giving Donald Trump a win right before the midterms?” And I said, “You know, Democrats actually do policy.” The fact is that this is going to stop Wall Street from buying up homes; this is going to help us build more homes; and we actually do things because we believe it will help people.

There is no way a Republican Congress would’ve done this for Joe Biden or a Democratic president.

It’s a fair point, but just as notably, it’s an underappreciated one.

Democrats knew that passing this bill would make it easier for Republicans — in the White House and on Capitol Hill — to say they’re addressing the affordability issue. Democrats knew that this bill would address an issue that polls show is an important priority for millions of Americans. Democrats knew that this bill would let hundreds of GOP members of Congress, nearly all of whom will be on the ballot in roughly 18 weeks, take a victory lap at a time when Republicans were desperate for a win on any issue. Democrats knew that this would likely end up in Republican campaign ads as proof that the GOP can deliver something meaningful.

And yet, literally every Democrat in the House and Senate who voted on this legislation supported it — regardless of the political and electoral implications — because they thought the bill would help people.

It’s a case study in how a governing party operates, prioritizing policy outcomes above all.

As for Khana’s argument that a Republican-led Congress never would’ve helped deliver a comparable victory for Democrats in an election season, I’m hard-pressed to imagine any fair-minded observer coming to a different conclusion.

The post With support for housing bill, Democrats show how governing parties operate appeared first on MS NOW.

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From MS Now.