Bipartisan housing bill becomes law after Trump declines to sign it

Washington — A landmark housing bill automatically became law at 12 a.m. on Saturday after President Trump declined to sign it in protest of the Senate’s inaction on an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.

The bipartisan bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, is the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades. The measure aims to increase housing supply and bring down costs, including by limiting institutional investors from purchasing certain single-family homes. 

The president had been set to sign the legislation at a Capitol Hill bill signing ceremony last month, shortly after the House and Senate approved it by wide bipartisan margins. But he abruptly canceled the bill signing hours in advance, and threatened not to sign the legislation until Congress approved the SAVE America Act. That legislation would impose new restrictions on voting and registering to vote.

The president reiterated his intent not to sign the housing bill on Friday morning. 

“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, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” the president posted on Truth Social. 

Under the Constitution, a bill that has passed both houses of Congress automatically becomes law if the president doesn’t sign or veto it within 10 days, excluding Sundays.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the chief proponent of the legislation in the Senate, harshly criticized the president’s refusal to sign the bill.

“At the stroke of midnight, a huge bipartisan bill to lower housing costs became law without the President’s signature. Why did President Trump sit on the landmark housing bill for more than 2 weeks? Maybe because there was nothing in it for him personally — no gold-encrusted ballroom, no Qatari jet, no $2 billion crypto deal. Nothing in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing except ways to make housing more affordable,” she said in a statement. “Donald Trump couldn’t pick up the pen because he just isn’t interested in lowering costs for American families.”

The president’s decision put his Republican allies in Congress in a difficult position, depriving them of an opportunity to tout their efforts to address concerns about affordability that have remained top of mind for Americans. And despite pressure from the president in recent months, Senate GOP leaders have repeatedly stated that the elections bill does not have enough support to pass. 

The housing bill’s passage came after months of work and represented a rare moment of bipartisan consensus ahead of the midterm elections. But the president called the bill “a yawn,” while making clear that he wants the focus to be on his push to ban voting by mail, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. 

Despite the president’s refusal to sign the bill, he also didn’t veto it, allowing it to become law automatically. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who met with the president multiple times on the issue late last month, sent the bill to the president on June 29, starting the 10-day clock.

That day, when asked what he planned to do about the housing bill, Mr. Trump told reporters he didn’t know, adding, “I think it’s so unimportant” in comparison to the SAVE America Act. 

A day later, Johnson responded to Mr. Trump’s comments by saying that “the president has a lot going on and I think it’s safe to say he’s not read through every line of that piece of legislation.”

The Louisiana Republican said there’s “a lot to it and a lot of great things,” and added that he and the president had “spoken about it quite a bit.”

“What he was saying is in comparison to ensuring election integrity, which is now represented by the SAVE America Act, nothing is as important,” Johnson said. “That’s not to say that there are not also incredibly important issues, and the cost of living and affordability is among them. It’s top of mind.”

Johnson ultimately expressed confidence that the bill would become law, noting that he had encouraged the president to sign it with “the fattest black marker you have,” while telling him the results of the legislation “are going to be very, very good for the American people.”

“So I hope he does sign it. If he doesn’t, it’s still law; we’ll still celebrate it,” Johnson said. “But he’s trying to make a point and I think he’s making it very effectively.”

What the housing law does

The new law includes more than 45 provisions, many of which are aimed at increasing development of affordable housing by removing regulatory barriers and streamlining environmental reviews. It also launches a pilot program to aid local governments in converting vacant commercial buildings into affordable housing, unlocks more federal funding for the construction of factory-built homes and eliminates a rule that requires homes to be built on a chassis — a steel framework used to transport them.

In addition, it creates an innovation fund for communities that are increasing their housing supply, supports housing opportunities for veterans and limits the purchases of single-family homes by institutional investors.

The institutional-investor limits are aimed at cutting competition to benefit homebuyers, supporters say. And applying to existing single-family homes, rather than new construction, the law preserves incentives for financial firms to invest in new housing construction.