‘Sign the damn bill’: Dems, including Jeffries, push Trump on housing legislation

Congressmembers gathered this week to blast a recalcitrant President Donald Trump after he refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan affordable housing bill that already passed both the Senate and House.

On June 24, Trump announced plans to cancel signing the federal affordable housing act, threatening to veto the legislation unless the anti-voter Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for all voters, is passed first.

Trump also backed out of an agreement with Iran that included the immediate lifting of economic sanctions and creation of a $300 billion reconstruction fund to rebuild the regime’s economy. The deal didn’t have any immediate forces to stop Iran’s nuclear program or weapons development, though.

“Congress has found compromise in the shared goal of putting the needs of our communities first,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, who is on the House Committee on Financial Services, at a press conference on June 24. “We know the president doesn’t care about affordability. We know he loves inflation. And unfortunately, we know he doesn’t care about housing, just like he didn’t care about the high prices caused by his tariffs or the high prices caused simply by his war in Iran. There’s only one person standing in the way of affordable housing relief for people of this country. That person is the president of the United States, and I have a message for him: Mr. President, sign the damn bill.”

It’s been surmised that Trump cancelled the signing because of the Democratic Socialist wins of three Congress seats in the New York primaries. Unhappy with the course of the primaries, Trump is reportedly turning to the SAVE Act’s potential voter suppression tactics to secure a win.

“Donald Trump has once again made clear that Republicans would rather make it harder to vote than easier to live in an affordable way—in this particular instance, easier to purchase or rent a home that is affordable,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in an interview with MS NOW. “That’s consistent with basically what Donald Trump had been saying to the American people, that he believes the affordability crisis is a hoax, that he loves inflation and that he doesn’t care about the personal financial situation of the American people.”

The housing bill aims to boost housing supply, expand homeownership access, and reduce costs nationwide by stopping private equity and corporations from buying single-family homes. It includes reforms such as the Disaster Recovery Act and the Rural Housing Service Reform Act; reducing federal regulations; streamlining environmental reviews; and speeding up the construction process of housing production.

Other provisions include turning abandoned infrastructure into housing; expansion of government rental assistance; raising limits on the number of public housing units that can receive financing for renovations; and providing guidelines for communities that want to reform outdated zoning regulations.

It passed in May 2026 with overwhelming bipartisan support. If Trump does nothing and the bill becomes a law without his signature, he can veto the measure. The Senate and the House would have to vote again to override the veto.

“Ordinary people aren’t able to make this economy work, and today, this president had an opportunity to do something for ordinary people, for working Americans. Instead, he has managed once again to make the story about himself,” said U.S. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock at the press conference. “He is so obsessed with himself that he keeps tripping over himself.”

“This is ridiculous,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a statement. “Housing costs are surging and the American people are struggling, but the president is refusing to sign the most significant housing bill in decades that would build more housing, lower costs, and stop private equity and Wall Street from buying up homes. If this is the president signaling his intent to veto this legislation, Congress must come together to override his veto, pass this commonsense bill into law, and get the American people the relief they desperately need.”

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