When Sen. Elizabeth Warren first heard that Donald Trump was refusing to sign a landmark housing-affordability bill that she had stewarded through the Senate — with virtually universal bipartisan support — she thought it was a “joke.”
Last Wednesday, inside the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, a carpeted red stage with a small writing desk had already been arranged for the planned signing ceremony. To its left, a podium affixed with the presidential seal and 11 artfully draped flags framed the scene. But roughly two hours before the bill was set to become law, Trump pulled the rug out from not only Democrats, but also his own party, canceling the ceremony and signaling that he would not sign the ROAD to Housing Act until Congress passed his pet voter-suppression law, the “SAVE America” Act.
Almost a week later, he hasn’t budged.
“Big deal. It’s a yawn,” Trump told reporters on Monday of the legislation that seeks to remove barriers to the construction of affordable housing and ban private equity from buying up residential homes. “It hasn’t been sent to me yet. It’s coming, I understand, and then I’ll make the determination.… I think it’s so unimportant compared to the SAVE America Act.
“It is very bipartisan, that means the Democrats like it,” he added of the housing bill.
And so did Republicans. The bill passed through both chambers with a veto-proof majority, and would have been a much needed, marketable win for members of the GOP amid a string of national- and foreign-policy blunders by the president.
“I’ve spent 18 months, one Republican at a time, building a bipartisan enthusiastic majority for this bill,” Warren, the primary Democratic sponsor of the legislation, tells Rolling Stone. “It’s hard, but it’s possible, with one gigantic exception: when Donald Trump comes in and tells the Republicans to do something else.”
If you poll Americans on which issues are most important to them as voters, the perpetually increasing cost of living and housing will inevitably be at or near the top of the list. There’s a national housing shortage, the median age for a first-time home buyer has shot up to 40, and more Americans than ever are paying rent to corporate landlords.
“Everyone gets up Wednesday morning, the Republicans are tweeting about what a great bill it is,” Warren says. “They set up the stage, they have flags up. Mike Johnson is there, ready to go, and with less than two hours to the signing ceremony, Donald Trump decides he’s not going to sign it,” Warren recalled of the day. I thought “it was an Andy Borowitz ‘Donald Trump cannot take yes for an answer’ kind of thing, because I could not imagine that he wouldn’t jump out in front and take credit for this bill,”” she adds, referencing the New Yorker satirist.
She was incredulous not because the president had targeted her (she’s been pretty used to that for years now), but because she did not know “how Donald Trump could make it any clearer that he literally does not care about high costs or families.”
The president told reporters this week he wants to drive home prices up, not down, and in May asserted that he does not think about or consider how his Iran war-driven oil shock was affecting Americans’ finances — not even a “little bit.” Earlier this month, in response to recent economic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trump said, “I love the inflation.”
Warren recalled that early in Trump’s second term, she had personally spoken with the president about pursuing long-needed housing-affordability legislation, which had not had a major legislative package in decades. The bill had been crafted in conjunction with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the current chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
When he canceled the signing ceremony last week, Trump did not note Scott or the vast majority of the GOP who supported the bill. Instead, he laid responsibility for the legislation squarely at Warren’s feet. “The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post defending his decision. “Republicans will feel very stupid if they don’t do it first. I’ll be watching with tears in my eyes!!!”
Republicans themselves were furious at the interference, and the caucus lunch held later that afternoon descended into a screaming match between the president and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) over Iran, as tensions between the vulnerable Republican majority and the erratic president seemingly reached a boiling point.
“Anyone who bets on congressional Republicans caving in to Donald Trump usually collects money on that deal,” Warren says. “But the SAVE Act is so bad that even Republicans are staying away from it.… His popularity is in the dumpster, so his last chance to save himself is to cheat — and that’s basically what the SAVE Act is.”
The housing bill is still expected to become law — either via Trump begrudgingly signing it, or via the expiration of a 10-day legal countdown that would ratify the bill even without a presidential signature. At this point, it seems unlikely that the president would outright veto it out of spite. But his rejection of the ROAD to Housing Act has frightened off Republicans who would have otherwise touted the legislation to voters.
It’s disappointing, but Warren is already planning ahead for the next Congress. “This is a big bill, but the housing crisis is even bigger. Our job is to come back with a ROAD to Housing 2.0,” she says. “I’m already working on pulling together more ideas and encouraging other Democrats to come in with their proposals for what more we can do to reduce the cost of housing and get private equity out.”
It’s also just one piece of a larger affordability agenda. “Families are getting slammed by housing, but there’s so much more,” Warren adds. “We are working around the clock right now on a universal child-care bill that will be ready to go when Democrats have a majority. We are working on changes in healthcare coverage, so that everybody gets access.… Democrats have a big job to do to strengthen families and create more opportunities for working people.”
As for what the president is thinking, or what he might try next, Warren isn’t giving it too much of her time. “If you’re asking me to get into Donald Trump’s head to explain this,” she says through laughter, “that is a place I will not go. You can’t make me go there, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
