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Republicans Could Blow Their Biggest Opportunity To Lower Prices

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate did something pretty rare this week: It overwhelmingly approved a package of reforms aimed at lowering housing prices amid rising inflation, a top concern for voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.

But even before the 89-10 vote was gaveled down on Thursday, Republicans in the House began making demands for changes, threatening to undo the bipartisan coalition supporting the bill in the Senate and spoil what could be the last big opportunity this Congress will have to address the high cost of living, as food and gas prices spike amid the war in Iran.

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The saga shows how President Donald Trump and the GOP have struggled to address voter concerns about the high cost of living, the issue that has done more than any other to unravel the coalition Trump assembled in 2024 and give Democrats a political edge heading into the midterm elections.

“For Republicans in the House to walk away from [the bill] would be a strong sign that they really don’t care about affordability,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a lead author of the bill, said in an interview with HuffPost.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which Warren authored alongside Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, contains dozens of bipartisan provisions intended to make it easier for people to buy homes. It would speed up affordable housing development, expedite approval processes, boost federal housing counseling, encourage states and localities to liberalize their zoning laws, and streamline dozens of regulations, among other provisions.

It has the support of key stakeholders, as well as an endorsement from the White House.

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“We can do what so many folks failed to do in this legislative body for the last few decades,” Scott said on Thursday. “That is, pass consequential legislation that makes it easier to become a homeowner for those that are ready for that part of their journey.”

Some House Republicans, however, are insisting that they go to conference with the Senate, preferring instead their version of the bill that passed in a big bipartisan vote of 390-9 earlier this year. Setting up a conference committee to hash out the differences would delay the legislation’s passage and potentially stall it altogether.

Hard-line conservatives are opposed to Warren’s role in shaping the Senate bill, including the addition of a controversial Trump-backed provision prohibiting institutional investors from purchasing single-family housing. Warren told HuffPost it’s meant to ensure private equity doesn’t reap all the profits of new housing sales, but critics argue that it would stifle the building of new housing units.

Other GOP lawmakers are upset that Senate Republicans refuse to eliminate the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, a top priority of hard-line conservatives that would nationalize elections and gut mail-in voting across the country.

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“Since the Republican Majority in the Senate won’t fight for the Save America Act it shouldn’t be surprising to watch them support Senator Warren’s housing bill,” Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) wrote in a post online. “The House passed a superior bipartisan product to deliver meaningful reforms and improve housing affordability. I encourage Speaker Johnson to go to conference to improve this subprime Senate product for the American people.”

The National Association of Home Builders, a powerful industry group, has also urged the two chambers to resolve differences in the bills by going to conference.

Trump hasn’t made matters any easier for top Republicans. Last week, he threatened not to sign into law any legislation until Congress passes the SAVE Act, a top priority for conservatives and MAGA influencers. And, in a conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) earlier this week, Trump said “no one gives a **** about housing,” according to Punchbowl News.

But the SAVE Act isn’t going anywhere in the Senate. Democrats flatly oppose it, and Republicans don’t have the votes to pass it by eliminating the filibuster, as Trump, Republicans in the House, and an army of MAGA influencers online are demanding. Senate GOP leaders are planning a lengthy debate next week on the Senate floor as a way to appease their angry base, which believes massive voting changes like requiring a passport to register to vote will be the only thing that averts a GOP bloodbath in the November midterms, and not, for example, legislation aimed at lowering the price of housing.

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“This is voter suppression. They’re doing this because they’re about to have a horrible election,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said of the SAVE Act. “This is a proposal to change who can actually vote to help the Republicans and the president save their sorry asses.”

Meanwhile, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act could be in for a bumpy ride if House Republican leadership insists on making changes to the Senate draft.

“There’s a lot of pride among members in both chambers,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “I don’t know what changes, if any, we’ll have to make to accommodate the House. I know we’ve already made some. I think we’ll have to make others.”

“If they turn this thing into something out of [the movie] ‘Alien,’ then I’ll vote against it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he added.

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The provision in the Senate bill that requires “large institutional investors” to sell their rental properties to families after seven years has caused bipartisan consternation in both chambers of Congress. Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii), the lone Democrat who opposed the chamber’s bill, and other members of the Yes In My Backyard, or YIMBY, movement, which aims to speed up housing construction, have warned it would jeopardize new construction of homes.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another opponent of the bill, called the provision “absurd.”

“The problem that we have with housing is about 4 million too few houses,” Tillis said. “We need housing starts. ... That’s how you can look the American people in the eye and say we’ve addressed affordability. You can’t look them in the eye with a straight face and say this ban on institutional investment has anything to do with that.”