[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 104 (Monday, June 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2982-S2984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    21ST CENTURY ROAD TO HOUSING ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.


                               H.R. 6644

  Ms. WARREN. Madam President, I rise today in support of the 21st 
Century ROAD to Housing Act. We are closer than ever to passing the 
biggest housing bill since 1990, when the average price of a home in 
America sold for $150,000. Today, 36 years later, the average home is 
selling for over $500,000.
  The American dream of home ownership is now out of reach for millions 
of families. The median age of a first-time home buyer is now at an 
alltime high, and it is no secret why this has happened. Our Nation has 
a shortage of millions of homes.
  And our housing crisis doesn't just affect the opportunity to buy a 
home. Americans can't afford to rent either. More than a million 
evictions were filed just last year, and, meanwhile, private equity has 
swooped in to outbid families for homes and then turn around and jack 
up the rent on tenants.
  Congress has been sitting on its hands for decades as multiple 
generations of Americans have seen their dreams of home ownership slip 
out of reach, while Wall Street rakes in the profits.
  It is no wonder that, when you ask Americans why they don't like 
politics or why they don't trust Congress, they will often say 
something like: It just all feels like it is rigged.
  Yes, the system is broken, and I have been ringing the alarm bell 
about this for years. But, today, Congress is taking a big step toward 
fixing it.
  The bill we are passing today sends a clear message to every American 
struggling to find a place they can afford. Elected leaders understand 
the problem and are actually doing something to try to solve it.
  This bill acknowledges that outdated regulations and rules have 
gotten in the way of building more housing and building it fast. It 
represents an overwhelming bipartisan consensus that we

[[Page S2983]]

should use the power of the Federal Government to encourage communities 
to build more housing and to repair the housing we already have. For 
the first time ever, this bill will stop private equity from buying up 
single-family homes. Wow.

  You know, I have been speaking up for years about how private equity 
has come in and just taken over industry after industry after industry, 
stripping it for parts and running those businesses into the ground. 
Congress has never before held private equity accountable for anything. 
Today, that changes. No longer will private equity firms come in with 
an all-cash offer to snap up a house while a family loses out on their 
dream.
  Today's vote proves that it is possible to find bipartisan common 
ground on legislation that actually helps the American people. 
Importantly, it proves that bipartisan legislation doesn't have to be 
the weakest, most milquetoast agreement that doesn't offend anyone or 
do too much to help anyone either. It proves that we can legislate by 
taking really good ideas from every member of the Banking Committee--
Democrats and Republicans--from across the Senate, from across the 
House, from mayors and local governments, from housing experts and 
advocates, and instead of just beating each other down to strip out 
anything that anybody in that group doesn't like, we add in even more 
good ideas until we have the biggest housing bill in more than 30 
years.
  I don't say this a lot, but today, I am proud to be a Member of the 
U.S. Senate. Today, we are doing something that will make a real 
difference in people's lives.
  I am grateful to the chairman of the Banking Committee, who led us in 
this effort and who kept us on task at all times. If it would help 
families, he said he was for it, and he helped make that happen. I am 
grateful for that.
  You know, I just want us all to remember that this housing bill is 
big, but our housing prices are even bigger. We have more work to do, 
and I hope that today's vote is only the first of many votes to follow 
to continue our efforts to lower the cost of housing all across 
America. Let's get this done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent 
to speak for up to 5 minutes prior to the scheduled vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam President, I thank the ranking 
member for her kind comments and for her hard work on behalf of the 
American people.
  People oftentimes ask the question: Is there anything that is not 
broken in the Nation's Capital?
  I will tell the Presiding Officer, as a great member of the Banking 
Committee herself, that the answer is that there are some things that 
are not broken to the point they cannot be fixed in the Nation's 
Capital. One of those things is our ability to not think left or right, 
blue or red, Black or White, rich or poor; it is to think about and 
focus on the journey many of us have taken to become U.S. Senators.
  The fact of the matter is that I grew up in the Deep South, in South 
Carolina, in a little place called North Charleston. Without any 
question, having grown up in a single-parent household mired in 
poverty, the issue of housing is particularly interesting to me.
  I remember when my parents were divorced, my brother, my mother, and 
I shared a bedroom and a bed for years in a little 700-square foot, 
rented unit by my grandparents. I will tell you that the American dream 
just seemed out of reach for so many in my neighborhood--certainly for 
those of us living on Meeting Street Road, which was a dirt road during 
those times.
  Later, my mother was able to afford a small apartment that was 600 
square feet or so, and my brother and I had the pleasure of having our 
own room that was separated from my mother's. That is what I called 
a blessing from the God, the King of Kings himself--without any 
question.

  But my mother and my grandparents taught me something very powerful 
and necessary. They taught me faith in the Lord, perseverance through 
hard times, and opportunity. Those three together can transform the 
hardest of hard circumstances, and that belief has guided my work on 
this very important issue of housing.
  Young people today are feeling in a similar fashion that I did then 
in that they are delaying marriage, they are delaying having kids, they 
are delaying putting down roots--not because they lack ambition but 
because housing prices are too darned high and housing supply is too 
low. Rent is too high, starter homes are too hard to find, and the 
American dream slips further and further away for far too many.
  Mr. FETTERMAN. Katie, whoo!
  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Even the Senator from Pennsylvania is so 
excited that he had to recognize the Presiding Officer. I will simply 
say that the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act even gets the junior 
Senator from Pennsylvania's vote. You may ask yourself, why is that the 
case? I have four really important reasons that is truly the case.
  First, it is because we cut redtape, and when you cut redtape, you 
actually reduce the cost of housing.
  Second, it unlocks the housing supply. When you put more housing 
supply on the market, more people have a chance to become a first-time 
home buyer. Today--today--today--the first-time home buyer is 40 years 
old. It is just too old.
  Our bill protects taxpayers. Some have asked the question, how does 
this make housing more affordable? I want to highlight two provisions--
one that the ranking member talked about, which is what President Trump 
said during his State of the Union. It is simple: Houses should be for 
people and not for corporations. We make it easier for people to have 
access to housing because of the provision that President Trump placed 
in this legislation.
  Now, why are there Republicans who disagree with the President on 
this one? I don't know. You will have to ask those Republicans.
  John Kennedy and the ranking member have a piece of legislation that 
we embedded in this bill that simply says something that is remarkable 
from Congress, remarkable from the Senate, and that is, frankly, common 
sense to everybody outside of Washington, DC: If you build more 
housing, you should get more incentives. If you don't build more 
housing, you should lose those incentives, and they should go to the 
places where they are building more housing. Yes, I recognize this is 
common sense everywhere but here.
  Finally, I will say that the House of Representatives did a fine job 
of embedding in this housing legislation important priorities that I 
believe will make housing more affordable, more accessible, and, 
frankly, that will help banks--community banks, which are the primary 
places you go for a mortgage--be more engaged in this process. Once 
again, this was a bipartisan, bicameral issue to do the work of the 
people.
  I will close with this because I know my 5 minutes is nearly up. If 
we would just focus on the American people and listen when they speak, 
we would remember two things: No. 1, they hire us, and we work for 
them. No. 2, like E.F. Hutton--the Presiding Officer is too young to 
know who he is--when E.F. Hutton speaks, we ought to listen. Our E.F. 
Hutton is called the American people, and when we listen, we bring this 
Nation closer together.
  Public service should not be about those of us in public service; it 
should be about the journey we took. For me, that is as a kid born into 
poverty to a great mother who believed in faith, perseverance, and 
opportunity. If we do our part, more kids today who are being raised in 
similar situations and circumstances that I was might have hope in the 
American dream.
  Somewhere, you can read faith, hope, and love. Hope is not a bad 
second place, though. Let's provide more hope and more results for more 
Americans by simply doing the right thing.


                          Amendment Withdrawn

  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw Thune amendment 
No. 5824.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                        Vote on Motion to Concur

  The question occurs on the motion to concur with an amendment.
  The yeas were previously ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page S2984]]

  The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis),the 
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from West 
Virginia (Mr. Justice), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and 
the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).
  Further, if present and voting: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. 
Graham) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. 
Young) would have voted ``nay.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), 
the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), the Senator from Michigan 
(Ms. Slotkin), and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are 
necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 5, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 182 Leg.]

                                YEAS--85

     Alsobrooks
     Armstrong
     Baldwin
     Banks
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt Rochester
     Booker
     Boozman
     Britt
     Budd
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gallego
     Gillibrand
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Husted
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     Kim
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Markey
     Marshall
     McCormick
     Merkley
     Moody
     Moran
     Moreno
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schiff
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Sheehy
     Smith
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--5

     Johnson
     Lee
     Paul
     Scott (FL)
     Tuberville

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Bennet
     Cruz
     Curtis
     Graham
     Justice
     McConnell
     Murray
     Slotkin
     Whitehouse
     Young
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). Under the previous order, the 
motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
  The majority leader.

                          ____________________