The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is set to become law at midnight tonight. It’ll be a rare occurrence in American politics for two very different — and very 2026 — reasons. This is the first time in more than three decades that Washington has taken major action to try to bolster the nation’s housing supply, after voters told two successive administrations that frustrations over the cost of living were their top concern. And it’s the first time in a decade that a bill will become a law without the president’s signature, after Donald Trump declared this morning he won’t sign it. (The last time the White House opted out of both signature and veto was Barack Obama on Iran sanctions in 2016, per ABC News Radio’s Steven Portnoy.) In both of these strands — Congress scrambling to tackle affordability and Trump insisting the SAVE America Act matters more — two of the defining features of this year’s midterms become clear. The landmark, bipartisan legislation aims to address a persistent housing crisis, through dozens of deregulatory moves and new incentives to build more houses and make it easier for people to buy and rent. After construction fell short of demand post-recession, this could finally help expand supply and bring prices down. More from POLITICO’s Katherine Hapgood and Cassandra Dumay In passing the bill by lopsided margins, vulnerable incumbents in Congress could give themselves a significant new achievement to tout. That may be particularly valuable for Republicans, whose previous answers to Democrats’ persistent affordability attacks mostly centered on last year’s tax cuts or blamed Joe Biden. (But it will take time for voters to feel many effects from the housing law, which some experts warn falls short of transformational change and provides less help for low-income renters.) The law bears some Trumpian imprint: There’s almost no way limits on institutional investors buying single-family homes would’ve gotten through a GOP Congress without his urging. But to the president, it’s not the SAVE Act — and so it is, famously, a “big yawn.” His refusal to sign is another instance of the president raining on a parade at which Republican operatives would rather make him grand marshal. Democrats watched eagerly. “Trump has impressively found a way to make this a political loser for Republicans,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton told Playbook. “A political ‘own goal,’ if you will. All voters will remember from this bizarre episode is how Trump doesn’t care about affordability.” Trump fumed on Truth Social that his lack of signature is a symbolic protest over the Senate’s “CRAZY” failure to end the filibuster and pass the sweeping elections bill. And the GOP says both prongs can play to their favor: “Republicans will continue to be on offense highlighting the President’s achievements to make America more affordable,” RNC national press secretary Natalie Baldassarre said, “and expose the radical Democrats’ opposition to commonsense legislation that strengthens the integrity of our elections.” Some parts of the SAVE Act are indeed popular, like requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. But the bill also reflects a core Trump belief about the midterms: that Republicans need to change the rules to win. A focal point of his State of the Union was imploring Republicans to pass the bill because he falsely believes that there is widespread voter fraud and Democratic election rigging. Changing the system is also the foundation of Republicans’ mid-decade gerrymanders, which the party explicitly undertook as a bulwark against an expected voter backlash to Trump. The new maps are another critical factor in the midterms. And for Black Democrats in the South, the looming post-Callais loss of political power has many leaders feeling isolated and even abandoned by national Dems, POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels reports. Without passing the SAVE Act, Trump warned today, the “title of DUMB will revert to the Republicans who allowed this horrible calamity to happen to our Party, and our Nation, itself!” For the president, other midterm concerns are secondary. Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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