Housing bill becomes law without Trump’s signature
Congress’s biggest bipartisan housing bill in decades became law without President Trump’s signature after he refused to approve it over the SAVE America Act.
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One of Congress’s biggest bipartisan legislative achievements of President Donald Trump’s second term became law on Saturday at midnight—without his signature.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act took effect automatically after Trump publicly declined to sign the measure on Friday, saying he was withholding his approval to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act. (He also renewed his call for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster if necessary to advance the election legislation.) Rather than veto the legislation, the president allowed it to become law.
Congressional leaders from both parties were confident that they had the votes to override a veto if the president rejected the measure. The bill passed the House with 358 votes, or roughly 92% of members voting, and cleared the Senate 85–5, a margin of about 94%. (A two-thirds majority in both chambers is required to override a veto.)
Democrats seized on the combination of Trump’s inaction on a key affordability measure and his obsession with what they view as a voter suppression bill to press their case that Trump is principally interested in clinging to power instead of easing the kitchen-table stress working families say they’re facing.
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“Republicans would rather make it harder for you to vote than easier to afford a home,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) posted on X in response to Trump’s announcement. “When people show you who they are, believe them.”
Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass,) argued in a statement that Trump refused to sign the bill because there was nothing in it for him personally.
“No gold-encrusted ballroom, no Qatari jet, no $2 billion crypto deal. Nothing in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing except ways to make housing more affordable,” Warren said. “Donald Trump couldn’t pick up the pen because he just isn’t interested in lowering costs on American families.”
House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called the bill a victory for Congress and for the American people, whose resilience she credited despite what she views as Trump’s abandonment of his core campaign promise to lower the high cost of living.
“Trump may have dismissed the bill as a ‘big yawn’but the millions of Americans struggling with high housing costs couldn’t disagree more,” Waters said. “When Americans demanded housing relief, let the record be clear: Congress responded to their calls while Trump refused to act.”
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Politically, Trump’s decision risks undercutting one of the few bipartisan accomplishments Republicans had hoped to campaign on this fall. In conversations over the past several weeks, Republican lawmakers and aides repeatedly pointed to the housing package as a tangible answer to voters’ concerns about affordability and a chance to shift attention from the politically divisive One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Instead, a measure GOP leaders envisioned as a midterm messaging asset has become another flashpoint in Trump’s effort to pressure Senate Republicans on an unrelated priority.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act combines dozens of housing and banking provisions aimed at increasing housing supply, lowering costs and expanding homeownership. The bipartisan package also includes new restrictions designed to limit institutional investors from outcompeting families for single-family homes. Trump had been scheduled to sign the bill during a Capitol ceremony days after House passage before abruptly canceling the event about 90 minutes beforehand to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act instead.