President Donald Trump threw a bipartisan bill on housing affordability into turmoil in recent weeks — backing off after issuing an endorsement, and expressing concerns with a major provision of the bill that helped unify lawmakers in favor of it.
According to Politico, “Trump was on the verge of putting out a social media post taking issue with the major housing affordability package the Senate approved this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The president doesn’t support language in the bill that would require large institutional investors to sell single-family homes that are built as long-term rentals after seven years, the people said.”
Trump had previously endorsed the legislation, called the ROAD to Housing Act.
“Trump’s concerns could complicate the delicate negotiations surrounding the largest housing measure seriously taken up by Congress in years,” said the report. “Senators have been pushing the House to accept their bill without changes in order to ensure its quick passage, but Trump’s objections — which haven’t been previously reported — could give new momentum to House members who want to force amendments to the proposal.”
This is not the first roadblock the president has thrown up against the ROAD to Housing Act. Shortly after he endorsed the bill in March, he worked behind the scenes to try to tank the bill because he wanted all legislation in the Senate to be tabled until his pet voter suppression bill, the SAVE America Act, was passed.
That bill was unable to overcome a filibuster, and Trump went on to issue an executive order expanding his oversight of voting, which is currently under legal challenge.
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