EXCLUSIVE — President Donald Trump is expressing confidence that Congress will be able to pass landmark bipartisan housing legislation despite disagreement between the House and the Senate over certain provisions.
Trump spoke with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday morning during a brief phone call. He said that he was optimistic about housing legislation making its way to his desk.
“I think they’re going to get together and come out with something,” Trump said.
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The housing legislation has been a point of interchamber contention. Last week, the House released an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, housing legislation that already passed the Senate overwhelmingly, but that lawmakers in the House and several outside stakeholders had big issues with.
The Washington Examiner asked Trump if he supported the House’s version, which has the blessing of House leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Well, I’m gonna have to see what all the amendments are, but I support Mike Johnson,” Trump responded. “He’s great, doing a good job. So, let’s see what the amendments are.”
Trump had previously urged the House to vote on the Senate’s version of the housing legislation as is, although the House Financial Services Committee forged ahead and released a new version — one that has received pushback from the Senate.
A key change in the legislation involves the ban on institutional investors purchasing single-family homes. Crucially, the ban would remain in place, but the new language narrows the definition of a single-family home and nixed a controversial provision on build-to-rent homes.
The Senate bill initially contained language that would require investors in build-to-rent homes to sell those houses within seven years. Housing experts argued it would decrease the housing stock, and industry groups have come out hard against the proposal.
Republican and Democratic Senate aides are also pushing back on the language in the House version that narrows the definition of a single-family home, arguing that the combined changes would allow private equity firms to outcompete families in the market more so than the Senate’s version.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Capitol Hill on Monday that he would wait to see what happens with the housing legislation this week in the lower chamber.
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“Well, we’ll see what they do and what they may or may not add to it,” Thune said. “We’ll see, again what, how it comes back, if it comes back.
“Again, I wish they would just pick up the Senate bill,” Thune added.
