The Senate overwhelmingly passed a housing legislation package closely aligned with President Donald Trump’s agenda despite some GOP lawmakers’ concerns over a digital currency provision.
The chamber voted 89-10 with nine Republican senators and one Democrat voting against the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” over a provision they believe does not go far enough in restraining the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency.
Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Todd Young of Indiana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and Ted Cruz of Texas voted down the measure, alongside Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz. Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker did not vote.
The central bank digital currency ban would be lifted in 2030 and hard-line Republicans in both chambers are pushing for it to be made permanent, according to Politico. Some Democrats have also raised concerns over the growing influence of cryptocurrency in Washington.
The lawmakers pushing for a permanent ban claim the provision would eventually allow the Federal Reserve an on-ramp to have power over people’s financial freedom and violate their civil liberties.
Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat leading the legislation, opposes a permanent ban, and told the Daily Caller News Foundation the provision’s temporary status is a “compromise that receives support from both the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans.”
“Trump has made clear that he supports this bill as written,” she told the DCNF Wednesday.
The package, which differs from what the House passed in February, also aligns with Trump’s January executive order preventing institutional investors from buying up single-family homes. It’s a housing priority both Warren and Trump agree on, although members in the House have concerns with the provisions’ language.
“When President Trump and Elizabeth Warren and the Senate majority Republicans can all come to the same place on a housing bill, what it says is, you put partisan politics aside,” Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the top Republican championing the legislation, said in a CNBC interview on Wednesday. “We’ve taken 20 of the 25 [House] provisions and embedded them in our 21st Century ROAD to Housing. Our bill is fantastic.”
The White House has come out in support of the current version of the bill and sees it as a compromise product.
Because of the package’s differences with the House-passed version, it will make its way back to the lower chamber, either to be amended and sent back to the Senate or will face a formal negotiation to settle the bill’s differences, which could be time-consuming.
Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said Wednesday that if politicians “center the people rather than their own petty and partisan differences,” the bill will make it over the finish line.
“Not only is this bill about cutting regulatory red tape, lowering costs, and expanding housing supply while generating no new spending, but it’s about making sure people like the single mom who raised me in North Charleston, South Carolina, have even greater access to economic opportunity and the American dream of homeownership,” Scott said in a statement.
The legislation has widespread support from the National Association of Realtors, the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
“The bill has passed with overwhelming bipartisan support because all across this country, people want to see us lower the cost of housing and keep private equity out of the home buying market,” Warren told the DCNF. “That’s what this bill does.”
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