The White House is backing an effort to attach most of a Senate-approved housing package to a must-pass annual defense bill, according to three people with knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private talks.
The administration’s support could breathe new life into the push to include the ROAD to Housing package in the National Defense Authorization Act at the eleventh hour. Both Senate leaders are also backing the push, the people said.
A White House official who was granted anonymity to relay the administration’s position said: “We’re open to seeing this moving forward.”
The ROAD package, backed by Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), includes an array of legislation aimed at boosting housing supply. The Banking panel approved the measure unanimously in July.
Scott and Warren have pushed to include most of the package in the NDAA, but House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) has pushed back. Hill said in a statement that “any housing package must have the buy-in from the House Financial Services Committee.”
“Given our Conference has not seen any text, it’s unclear how we could support its inclusion in the NDAA,” he said.
Hill spoke on the House floor with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Wednesday afternoon.
Congressional GOP leaders are now considering whether to add a revised or scaled-down version of the Senate’s legislation to the Pentagon bill, but no final decisions have been made, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) expressed support for the ROAD package during a committee hearing Wednesday morning, calling it a “common-sense legislative package that would chip away at the [housing] crisis.” But she told reporters later in the day that she doesn’t “know what’s in” the latest proposal.
“I’m supportive of absolutely getting all of my people on the ROAD bill — their bills into the NDAA package,” she said, referring to the fact that many of the measures in the Senate’s housing bill have companion bills in the House. “If they have worked that out, I’m happy. But I want to know what it is. And I want to know how many of my members are covered.”
House Financial Services has not seen the latest text reflecting what the White House supports, according to a House Democratic aide with knowledge of the matter.
Trump officials and the president’s top political aides are trying to push harder on housing policy, as high home costs and mortgages weigh on voters.
Top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio spoke extensively about housing policy as a key area of potential focus for Republicans during a closed-door briefing with the Republican Study Committee Wednesday.
The RSC itself is pushing housing as a key focus for a potential party-line bill the GOP could pass ahead of the midterms. Notably, Fabrizio encouraged House Republicans to work on advancing so-called portable mortgages, an idea some Trump officials have been mulling. That would allow homeowners to essentially take their mortgage rate with them when they move.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
