GOP can't agree on key part of Trump's housing affordability push as infighting continues

President Donald Trump is leaning on Congress to tee up an affordability win ahead of November’s midterm elections, but entrenched GOP disagreement on a sweeping housing proposal threatens to derail it. 

Trump on Monday called on the House to swiftly approve Senate-passed legislation aimed at easing housing affordability that has languished in the lower chamber for several months. House Republicans, however, have balked at that request and are pitching a rival plan. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., teased earlier in the week that Republicans and Democrats would come together to bring a "bipartisan, bicameral bill to the president’s desk."  

"I think everybody feels like it's important, so we're just working out some nuances," Johnson said.

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Senior House lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a modified version of the Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which is expected to receive a vote in the lower chamber as early as next week. 

Any changes to the Senate’s proposal would force the upper chamber to consider the measure again, prolonging the timeline lawmakers can send legislation to Trump’s desk.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the chief architects of the Senate’s bill, declined to say whether she was speaking with her counterparts in the House about tweaks to the bill, and argued that lawmakers were running out of time to do something.

"There’s a housing crisis out there," Warren said. "This bill can pass today if the House would just put it on the floor and vote on it.
We need to get started, and if the House has more ideas than they'd like to add, start another bill." 

Some GOP lawmakers are not sweating the wait.

"We cannot take the Senate bill to the floor," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital in an interview earlier this week.

The political dynamics are much different in the Senate, however. And the housing bill passed with fewer than a dozen defectors in March — a rare feat in such a hyper-partisan Congress. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued that the easiest route to putting the legislation on Trump’s desk is passing the Senate’s version.

"It's been sitting over there for a while and the president’s weighed in on it. I think, you know, the White House made it clear, they would like to see the House pick up and pass the Senate bill," Thune said. "We’ve done what we can do. It's in the court of the House now."

The House product struck out a controversial provision taking aim at the build-to-rent market that drew the opposition of conservatives, who argued the language amounted to excessive government interference in the housing market.

The clause in the Senate’s proposal would have specifically required some developers to sell single-family homes built for the purpose of renting within seven years after construction. The build-to-rent industry and opponents of the provision argued their properties provide a more affordable option for some Americans priced out of the housing market and could imperil the supply of rentals across the country.

"We’ve got to make sure we do it in a right way that continues to keep free markets," Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, said, adding that the clause in the Senate bill could make it "impossible" for some people to access housing.

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The proposal, however, would also weaken a ban on large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes — a priority of the Trump administration.

The House’s rival housing bill notably preserves a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) through 2030 that was included in the Senate’s legislation.

House conservatives raged at the Senate bill for stopping short of enacting a permanent CBDC ban — a top priority of GOP privacy hawks, who have sought to add the language to various legislative vehicles.

"It has to be permanent," Cloud said. "We've got to put the nail in the coffin on it."

House Financial Services Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., a co-author of the House’s rival housing package, said he shared Trump’s goal of expanding access to affordable homeownership in a statement Thursday.

"It cuts unnecessary barriers to new home construction, modernizes HUD programs, and allows banks to more freely deploy funding into their communities," Hill said regarding the lower chamber’s proposal. "We must get this right — and I am committed to working hard to do that."

Not everyone in the Senate is upset by the House’s decision to modify the bill. 

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was one of the few lawmakers to vote against the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and told Fox News Digital that housing affordability isn’t something that’s dictated by the federal government.

"If you wanted to actually reduce housing costs, it's local governments who are gonna have to allow more houses to be built," Scott said. 

The legislative standoff comes as a recent Fox News poll found that nearly 80% of voters said housing costs were a problem for them or their family. The same survey also found that Democrats hold a lead over Republicans on inflation and the economy.