House Republicans Modify Senate Housing Bill, Senate Housing Bill House Delay Looms
House Republicans on Thursday unveiled a modified version of the Senate's 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, putting the senate housing bill house delay back in focus as the lower chamber weighs changes that could send the measure back to the Senate. The House is expected to vote as early as next week.
President Donald Trump had called on the House on Monday to swiftly approve the Senate-passed legislation aimed at easing housing affordability. But senior House lawmakers chose a revised bill instead of moving the Senate version unchanged, keeping the path to the president tied to whether the chambers can settle on the same text.
Johnson's bid for a joint bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier in the week that Republicans and Democrats would come together to bring a “bipartisan, bicameral bill to the president’s desk.” In the same period, he said, “I think everybody feels like it’s important, so we’re just working out some nuances,” signaling that House leaders were still trying to bridge differences before a floor vote.
The Senate passed the housing bill in March with fewer than a dozen defectors, but the legislation then sat in the House for several months. Instead of simply taking up the Senate text, House Republicans had been pitching a rival plan, a move that left the Senate-passed bill without a clear path until Thursday’s revision.
Warren and Harris split
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the chief architects of the Senate bill, pushed the House to act on the text already approved by the Senate. “There’s a housing crisis out there,” she said, adding, “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.”
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris took the opposite view earlier in the week, saying, “We cannot take the Senate bill to the floor,” while the House product removed a controversial provision aimed at the build-to-rent market. That change gives House Republicans a bill they may be able to unite around, but any edits would force the Senate to consider the measure again before it could reach Trump.
Thune's route to Trump
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the simplest path remained passing the Senate version, telling reporters, “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,” before adding, “We’ve done what we can do. It’s in the court of the House now.”
That leaves House Republicans with a narrow choice next week: move a modified bill and risk another Senate vote, or leave the Senate text untouched and advance it faster toward the president’s desk.
