A comprehensive housing bill became law Saturday without Donald Trump’s signature or any fanfare from the White House after the president mad on a pack of dozens of affordability provisions that he mocked as “a yawn.”
Trump’s failed endorsement and late-night passage are setbacks for his allies on Capitol Hill, who wanted to portray the legislation as a major bipartisan victory on an issue that is a priority for voters ahead of the midterm elections.
The president’s about-face is also a reminder of how quickly he can sidestep on policy matters — even on a law that includes provisions that he and his own advisers negotiated. Still in June, Trump celebrated the package as “the most comprehensive and consequential housing legislation in our country’s history.”
The 21st Century Road to Housing Act will restrict the ownership of single-family homes by large institutional investors and streamline the rules for doing so factory-made housing and encourage communities to remove barriers to construction to bring more supply to market.
Lawmakers had originally planned a spectacular, camera-friendly signing for Trump in June of a package they had been working on for months scuffled around. Trump then abolished that last-minute ceremony and said the housing package “pales in comparison” to a voter ID law he has championed. Trump on Friday linked the invoices again: “I will not be signing the housing bill that has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House in PROTEST against the fact that the United States Senate is unable to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” he wrote on social media hours before the bill was set to take effect.
Trump’s withdrawal from the planned signing in June set the stage for an unusual waiting game in Washington: The president has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto legislation once it is sent to his desk. If no action is taken, a bill will become law after this period.
This 10-day period expired on Saturday and left the most consequential housing legislation has become law in an unusual way over the decades.
Read more: How a new law aims to increase housing supply in the USA
The last time a law went into effect without the president’s signature, according to GovTrack data, was in 2016. President Barack Obama allowed the Iran sanctions extension bill to go into effect without signing it, saying that was the case “unnecessary” but ultimately it would have no impact on its nuclear deal with Iran.
Controversial investor Ban
Proponents of the housing bill have hailed it as a groundbreaking move that will make significant progress in easing a historic supply shortage and curbing price growth.
Nevertheless, industry experts believe that the immediate impact will be muted as expanding housing supply takes time.
One of the most consequential and controversial measures in the bill would prohibit institutional investors with more than 350 homes from purchasing additional single-family homes. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, said the inclusion of the measure was critical to securing White House support.
Trump surprised Wall Street when he made his first appearance had such an idea in January, explaining that “people live in homes, not businesses.”
Trump has veered wildly over the last year about the importance of lowering housing costs, offering both thin tributes to the American dream of homeownership and scathing assessments that “the word ‘affordability’ is a Democrat hoax” and “Nobody” cares “about housing.”
In October he accused homebuilders of behaving like a cartel to maintain artificial scarcity, saying he was relying on it Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac to “get big house builders going.” On January 7thhe said Home ownership is “increasingly out of reach for far too many people” and he will “call on Congress to codify a ban on single-family home purchases by large institutional investors.”
Less than a month later he told Cabinet officials: “I don’t want to drive down property prices, I want to increase property prices for people who own their homes.” He assured homeowners that “we are not going to destroy the value of their homes so that someone who hasn’t worked very hard can buy a home.”
In February, Trump complained in his State of the Union address that a “pillar of the American dream that has been under attack is homeownership.” Days later, the White House issued two implementing regulations The aim is to improve housing affordability and access to mortgage credit.
When the Road to Housing Act passed Congress, Trump dismissed its supply-side provisions as “minor” compared to interest rates.
Fraying relationship
Trump tied his withdrawal of support for the housing bill to a demand that Congress support a controversial voter ID law, ignoring warnings from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, that he lacks the votes to pass it. The relationship between Trump and the Republican-led Senate has deteriorated in recent weeks as outgoing Republicans – including two whose primary challengers backed Trump – have become increasingly bold in defying the White House.
Over the past six weeks, Republican lawmakers have cut $1 billion in funding for Trump’s new White House ballroom from an immigration bill and successfully pushed the administration to drop plans for a $1.8 billion “anti-gun” fund.
Last month, lawmakers also tried to bypass Trump Election for incumbent spy chief by quickly confirming a less controversial candidate – only for Trump to tell that candidate not appear for his last-minute confirmation hearing. The powers of a key spy agency have expired in the impasse over the appointment.
Now Trump — a real estate mogul who built a brand by plastering his name on everything he touched — has decided to let the biggest housing bill in a generation take effect without putting his signature on it. Lawmakers from both parties face the challenge of selling the bill, whose benefits will not be felt until long after the midterm elections, as a win for voters — without the images of a triumphant signing ceremony or the president’s help.