Landmark US housing bill becomes law despite Trump protest

Summary

President Donald Trump allowed landmark housing legislation to become law overnight on Friday without his signature. He had earlier refused to sign it in protest over Congress's failure to pass voter ID legislation but did not veto the housing bill. Experts have said the legislation marks the most comprehensive action from Congress on lowering house costs for renters and homebuyers in the 21st Century. In June, both chambers of Congress approved the housing bill - called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act - in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement. "This bill becoming law is a genuine milestone—and I don't use that word lightly," Dennis Shea, of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), said. "Getting Congress to move on housing supply and affordability has been a long time coming, and the American people made clear they were ready for it." A survey from the BPC earlier this year found that 89% of voters from across the political spectrum wanted action from Congress to make housing more affordable. After Congress passed the Road to Housing legislation, Trump cancelled a ceremony to sign the bill and said he would not do so until the voter ID law was passed. "I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in protest over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing the Save America Act," Trump posted on social media. Republicans, who control the House and the Senate by slim majorities, have said there is not enough support to get the measure over the finish line. Democrats say the SAVE legislation disenfranchises eligible voters.