It is crunch week for lawmakers on Capitol Hill working to pass bipartisan housing legislation, but there is much uncertainty given differences with the legislation in the House and the Senate.Last week, the House released a revised version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, housing legislation that already passed the Senate in an overwhelming vote, but that lawmakers in the House and several outside groups had major issues with.
Ahead of the revised legislation, the White House and President Donald Trump urged the House to pass the Senate version as is, but the House Financial Services Committee forged ahead and released a new version that is receiving pushback from the Senate.
The whole situation is further complicated by issues with math and timing. The House is set to leave after this week and not return until June, and is attempting to pass the bill under suspension, which requires a two-thirds majority vote and sidesteps certain procedural hurdles.
The plan is a Wednesday vote in the House, which would send it back to the Senate. And while the Senate and White House had wanted the House to vote on the Senate’s version of the bill, some in the lower chamber said that the bill wouldn’t have had the votes absent the changes.
