The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass bipartisan housing legislation designed to boost supply and help with affordability amid a clash with the Senate.With a vote of 396-13, the House passed the revised 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which had previously sailed through the Senate but faced a gauntlet of amendments in the House. The White House earlier on Wednesday endorsed the House’s latest version. The 13 votes against were all Republican lawmakers.
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 last week, which was later updated on Tuesday to appease some of the concerns from the Senate side.
The bipartisan bill needed widespread support in the House, given that it was passed under suspension, which requires a two-thirds majority vote and sidesteps certain procedural hurdles.
House lawmakers had argued the revisions were necessary, given the numbers game of getting to that two-thirds majority, as well as pushback from stakeholders.
“The Senate bill has a math problem in the House,” one senior House GOP aide told the Washington Examiner this week. “The House’s amendment reflects a good-faith effort to find consensus and move a bicameral bill to President Trump’s desk.”
