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On Thursday, the Senate achieved a significant milestone by passing a comprehensive housing bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. This bill now heads to the House, where its future remains uncertain due to lawmakers’ frustration over being excluded from the upper chamber’s negotiations.
The legislation, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, seeks to reduce housing costs and was approved with an 89-10 vote. Most dissenting votes came from conservative members, with Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii also opposing the measure.
This bill stands out as one of the few major bipartisan initiatives this year that might make it to President Trump’s desk for approval.
Championed by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the bill proposes various measures. These include incentives to construct new homes, a program to convert abandoned buildings into housing developments, and new grants for home renovations, among other strategies.
If enacted, it would represent the first significant housing legislation to become law in nearly 30 years.
However, it faces serious tumult across the Capitol complex as House GOP leaders and conservative lawmakers are railing against a bill they believe was put together without their say. The House overwhelmingly passed its own comprehensive housing package, dubbed the Housing for the 21st Century Act, in February.
Senators dispute that they left the House out, arguing that many of the lower chamber’s priorities are included in their bill and that the wide vote margin in the upper chamber is reason enough for their colleagues across the Capitol complex to pass it as well.
“When President Trump and Elizabeth Warren and the Senate majority of Republicans can all come to the same place on a housing bill, what it says is you put partisan politics aside and you ask yourself, ‘What is one of the most profound issues impacting the American people?’” Scott told CNBC on Wednesday.
The bill is composed of a preexisting Senate measure combined with parts of the House-passed proposal.
Nevertheless, the process and state of play have rankled some in the House, especially on the right. They specifically point to language that temporarily bans a central bank digital currency. They, instead, want that to be made permanent.
Some conservatives have even argued provisions in the package, including on rent control, are communist.
House members are also benefitting from President Trump’s intense focus on the Iran war and the ongoing push on the right to pass the SAVE America Act, which is unlikely to make it over the finish line as not enough Senate Republicans support altering the filibuster to advance it.
Without Trump’s muscle, it is unclear whether the housing bill can get passed in the House. The White House has thrown its weight behind Scott and Warren’s package.
Thune on Thursday indicated he is still hopeful it can and that a conference process with the House can be avoided if the administration gets more hands-on.
“Could there be a conference? You know, that’s always a possibility,” Thune told reporters. “But obviously, the quickest way to get this done would be to pick up the Senate bill and pass it.”