[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 107 (Thursday, June 25, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H4254-H4257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRUMP HOUSING CRISIS

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green 
of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. And still I rise, 
unbought, unbossed, unelected, liberated Democrat. And I rise today, 
Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that I have been censured by this 
House, censured but not silenced.
  And I rise today, Mr. Speaker, because the housing crisis that we 
confront has taken on a new dimension. I am in full support of the 21st 
Century

[[Page H4255]]

ROAD to Housing Act, full support of it. Many others are, but I rise 
today to announce that this is now the Trump housing crisis. It is the 
Trump housing crisis, and I should like to present evidence to 
substantiate my claim.
  It is the Trump housing crisis because, yesterday, the President 
declined to sign the bill that was voted on in this House and passed 
and in the Senate and passed, a bicameral bill. Rarely do we get such a 
thing, but this one also is bipartisan. It has huge Republican support 
and huge Democratic support.
  Let me read from an official document. This is from Congress.gov. The 
indication here is that this piece of legislation had 191 Democrats 
vote for it and 166 Republicans, a total of 358 for the legislation. 
That is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. In the United States 
Senate, it had 85 yeas and only 5 nays.
  It had overwhelming support, the kind of support that would cause 
people to come to the floor of the House of Representatives, as they 
did. I was here. I came to the floor of this House of Representatives, 
and many persons on both sides of the aisle talked about the 
collegiality--perhaps not using that exact word, but the collegiality--
and talked about how this was one of the rare moments when we have 
received bipartisan, bicameral support for a piece of legislation--a 
great piece of legislation, I might add. It is a piece of legislation 
that was a long time in the making, a piece of legislation that this 
House passed and the Senate passed, as I have indicated before, by 
large margins.
  I heard persons stand here at this podium, at that podium, and the 
podium in the well and proclaim that this piece of legislation was 
indicative of what we can do when we work together, the symbiosis that 
was created by Democrats and Republicans working together.
  Everyone was in a great mood, a celebratory mood. Persons were ready 
to move on to the next phase. After all, you have to have the House and 
the Senate to pass a piece of legislation, and there are many people 
who say that before you can get a House and Senate to pass a bill, they 
first have to have the will.
  They demonstrated the will after having negotiated for some time. 
That was the first phase of it. The first phase of it included some 
persons who are of note and should be mentioned. The Honorable Maxine 
Waters should be mentioned and the Honorable Elizabeth Warren. The two 
of them worked together to bring this to fruition. They worked together 
after a chasm had erupted as it relates to the bill.

                              {time}  1400

  There was a chasm that many thought would be impossible to span, but 
I called them the Ws: the Honorable Maxine, I always say that because I 
have such great respect for her, and the Honorable Elizabeth Warren. I 
have great respect for the Honorable Elizabeth Warren. They were able 
to span this chasm and make this difference.
  I would also mention that in the Senate it had bipartisan support 
because the majority leader and the leader of the Senate, the majority 
leader and the minority, they both signed off on it. This was something 
that took great work to accomplish.
  I would also add this: It took people who were experienced. This is 
one of those times when experience with legislation made a difference. 
I am not sure that a neophyte could pull off what they were able to 
accomplish, and I am very proud to say that I support what we have 
done, and I support the bill.
  So with all that said, everybody was prepared for the signing 
ceremony. It was going to be a celebratory time, and everyone prepared 
to receive an indication that the President was going to sign it at the 
White House. I think everyone was, I was, surely, prepared for this.
  The President, in his own way, indicated that, no, it would not be 
signed at the White House. The President said that he would come to 
this Capitol and he would sign it here. Of course, the Speaker, in 
preparation for the President's arrival, decided to do all of the 
things to make sure that we had the proper pomp and circumstance 
available to the President, the President of the United States.
  Everything was set. The flags were in place, the table was arranged, 
and people were notified. Everyone was prepared for the signing of the 
legislation saving the President. The President sent a message 
indicating that he would not, N-O-T, would not sign this piece of 
legislation.
  The President indicated that he would not sign it and he had some 
things to say about it that were not flattering. He diminished the 
magnitude of the legislation. He went on to indicate that this was not 
something that he thought was appropriate.
  I don't know what his rationale was. It never comes through clearly 
because the President contradicts himself in the sentence where he 
makes any given statement at any given time. I have no idea what that 
was all about, but I do know this: When he decided not to sign the 
legislation, when he decided that he would literally allow it to just 
linger in limbo, I suppose, when he decided to do this, he then took on 
the housing crisis.
  The housing crisis is now that of the President of the United States. 
It belongs to the President of the United States. He decided that he 
would not sign legislation that is much-needed in this country, 
legislation that can make a difference in the lives of people in this 
country.
  He put in petty politics above a piece of legislation that can make a 
profound difference, petty politics above a profound difference that 
can be made by him by only affixing his signature to a piece of 
historic legislation, landmark legislation in my world.
  When he decided he wouldn't do it, here is what he also decided: He 
decided that he was not going to concern himself with the many people 
who cannot afford a home right now. Many people cannot afford a home. 
Affordability is a problem. It is a crisis. The President is well aware 
of this.
  He either knows or should know that this is a part of the solution, 
this bill, and he has not given a rationale, a clear rationale, for why 
he would not sign it. However, he took on the notion that people who 
cannot acquire a home, that this is now a problem for him to have to 
resolve in some other way I suppose. I doubt that he will figure out a 
way to do it. But he is not supporting those people who are in need of 
a home.
  There are people who live in areas where the homes are being 
purchased by corporate America, not all of corporate America, but 
various companies that are in the business of purchasing homes and then 
leasing or renting these homes.
  He is not supportive of this. In something that he said, he was 
antithetical to that, he was opposed to, but he is now supportive of 
this because he won't sign the bill that deals with this very issue, 
the issue of the homes that could go to first-time home buyers being 
purchased by corporations. As a result, those homes are now being 
placed on the rental market.
  The United States would become a country where the American Dream is 
a dream to rent a home if the President does not sign this bill. He now 
has embraced these people who would prevent persons from acquiring a 
home by simply buying up the property and leasing it.
  He also has done something that I never thought I would see him do 
because he is, generally speaking, supportive of the construction 
industry. He says he is a person of great knowledge when it comes to 
construction and the whole notion of being a great builder. He 
considers himself a great builder.
  He now is at odds with the builders in this country. The builders in 
this country are ready to build more homes. This bill would allow them 
that opportunity because it eliminates a lot of the red tape. I have 
had the builders come to me and tell me about the red tape they 
encounter when they are attempting to build a home on a piece of 
property. There is red tape associated with the codes across the 50 
States, and this red tape associated with these codes across these 50 
States is something that they encounter that makes it difficult for 
them to move expeditiously and construct homes.
  This piece of legislation deals with this notion that 50 States are 
going to have 50 different means of getting something done, and it 
incentivizes the

[[Page H4256]]

States to allow these homebuilders to have the opportunity to do what 
they do best, and that is construct homes for persons to purchase and 
some, of course, for rental purposes, but it would allow the 
construction process to move forward expeditiously. It may not be as 
fast as they might want it to move or I might want it to move, but 
faster than it is moving currently.
  This would be the case, but the President now is at odds with the 
builders. He is at odds with those who want to buy homes. He is at odds 
with those who would like to build homes because he won't sign the bill 
that would make it easier for the builders to do what they do and for 
persons who desire to purchase homes for the first time to have the 
opportunity to do so.
  This President is going to find himself helping persons who would 
like to avoid seeing this whole process develop because somehow they 
believe that if this process develops it will somehow hurt them 
politically. I don't see that, but the President seems to be siding 
with them. He is, in fact, not only siding with them, he is making it 
possible for the bill not to pass and not to go on to become law 
because he won't sign the bill. He won't sign it into law, so he is 
siding with those people who, for political reasons, simply believe 
that this bill is politically unacceptable for reasons that have not 
been explained.
  Mr. President, here is also something that is important for you to 
consider: If you pass the bill by virtue of signing it and placing it 
into law, then you have an opportunity to vote on its final passage 
because you have a vote in this process.
  If your vote is ratified by your signature, if you do this, then 
people will have more jobs. You will, in fact, help to increase the 
number of persons who are not only seeking jobs, but are acquiring 
jobs. Those people will be able to get jobs. You can't build millions 
of homes and not have these contractors and builders acquire additional 
personnel to help facilitate the work that has to be done.

                              {time}  1410

  This will happen. We will have more people employed. You are going to 
help with the unemployment issue in the country if you sign the bill.
  By not signing the bill, you are, of course, continuing with the 
unemployment issue. In fact, you are facilitating the unemployment of 
Americans because they could have jobs but for your failure to sign the 
bill.
  Your failure to sign the bill then would cause persons not to be able 
to sell some of the things that would be in a home if it is 
constructed. For example, you build a home. You are going to have 
carpet in many of them. Well, the people who sell carpet will not have 
the opportunity to prosper even more because of these millions of 
homes. The people who sell the washers and the dryers and the drapes 
will not have the opportunity to prosper as a result of your not 
signing the bill, and the people who build the homes will also make 
these homes a place such that persons will acquire equity for the 
future.
  These homebuilders are building places that allow equity to be 
acquired by the home purchasers. This equity is something that can be 
used for many reasons and many things. It can be used to help a child 
go to college. The equity can be used in an emergency, some family 
emergency. Your equity in the home can be there for you, but it can 
also be the means by which you can pass on wealth to the next 
generation. The wealth that you can pass on to the next generation is 
something that helps them get a start, a leg up in life, if you will. 
This won't happen if we don't sign the bill.
  Mr. President, you can sign this bill and help those who would have 
the opportunity to acquire equity, help those who are in the 
marketplace selling the various pieces of paraphernalia, the various 
things that are necessary to have a home develop into the place that 
you consider livable: the washers, the dryers, all of these things. You 
are also going to prevent people from literally having the roof over 
their heads and a place that they can settle in and not find themselves 
moving about from one place to another, a place to call home.
  Also, if you would sign the bill, Mr. President, you will find that 
this will give the country the opportunity to move forward away from 
this housing crisis and do some of the other things that are very 
important for us in the country. There are things that can be done, but 
this bill itself was something that took up an inordinate amount of 
time. We would be free of having to deal with it and we can deal with 
implementation.
  This bill also, Mr. President, would allow persons who suffer from 
natural disasters--their homes are damaged. The roofs are torn. I have 
seen it in many cases. When Katrina came through, I saw the damage that 
it did. I have seen the damage that Harvey did.
  This bill would help persons when they are confronting these natural 
disasters and they are suffering as a result of harm having been done 
to their property, this bill would help them because the bill has 
within it the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, something that I am 
proud to say I am a sponsor of.
  This bill has that act within it, and this act within it, this 
legislation within it, would allow persons to recover faster. The 
process that we have currently is one that has not been codified.
  After each natural disaster, we find ourselves having to--to borrow a 
term--``reinvent the wheel.''
  We find ourselves having to start all over again after each of these 
natural disasters, and we have them across the country. We have the 
weather on the coast and then we have the tornadic activity. We have 
the fires. When we have these man-made--not man-made. Some of them are, 
but we will call them acts of God. Sometimes they are simply things 
that people don't perpetrate. There are things that nature itself will 
visit upon people. As a result of these things happening and people 
suffering from them, this legislation will allow them to recover faster 
because there would be a codified process that allows money to be 
acquired faster. Money meaning the money that persons will need to 
restore their lives to some degree of normalcy. You don't have that 
currently. This bill provides that.
  It provides for a means by which money can be processed through the 
system. It can be acquired by simply following something prior to--a 
process in place prior to the disaster occurring and helping people to 
understand how they can acquire the necessary help that they will need.
  This would be something that would be made known to States, made 
known to the persons who, in various municipalities, are in control. 
That would usually be your county judge in certain places, your mayors, 
but there would be legislation that they could look to to get a better 
understanding of what the process will be like in the recovery phase 
after a natural disaster.
  I am very proud that this legislation is there. By signing the bill, 
yes, Mr. President, you would be signing a bill that has legislation in 
it that Al Green has sponsored. You know what, Mr. President. You are 
big enough to do that. You can do it.
  I know it would be hard for you, but give it a try. I am going to be 
proud to say that you signed it and you ought to be proud to know that 
I voted for it, and this would be one of the few times that you and I 
would probably be on the same page, Mr. President. That in and of 
itself should be reason for you to sign the legislation so that we can 
both say that we did something together.
  Wouldn't that be wonderful, Mr. President? Al Green and the President 
of the United States of America working together. It can happen, Mr. 
President, but it is up to you, not to me. I have done my part. It is 
now time for you to do yours, and you can. You can. I know. Just think 
about it. It can happen.
  Continuing, though.
  Mr. President, finally, as I come to my closure here, I must tell you 
that you have a great responsibility. The Framers of the Constitution 
were some brilliant people. They did prepare us for a time such as this 
and a President such as Trump.
  Mr. President, these are some brilliant people. They knew that we 
might encounter a President who would not want to sign a piece of 
historic legislation, so there is a means by which we can move forward 
and that means is without your signature. That means is simply this: 
You don't sign it.

  Once it is delivered to you, once you receive it, once it is sent to 
you, then

[[Page H4257]]

10 days later, if you don't sign it, it becomes law. Ten days later, it 
becomes law, not counting Saturdays and Sundays. Ten days later, it 
becomes law. Then when it becomes law, Mr. President, you didn't sign 
it so that gives you a way out.
  You didn't sign it. It became law, and you can go out and tell people 
how you were opposed to the many things that I mentioned. How you were 
opposed to helping people who are renters acquire a place to call home. 
How you were opposed to helping the builders construct more homes so 
that people can have a place to call home.
  You can go out and talk about that in your very own way. So you don't 
have to sign it, but it does have to arrive in your space. You have to 
receive it, and it has to be sent to you. If it is sent to you, then 
the 10 days will start from the day that it is forwarded to you.
  My hope is that it would be done if it hasn't been done and that the 
10 days would run. I know, Mr. President, that you enjoy having other 
people take responsibility for your inactions and your actions.
  Since you enjoy it very much, my fear is that you will encourage that 
it not be sent to you. You will push back on it being sent to you so 
that later on, you will be able to say: Oh, I never got it, so I 
couldn't sign it. That would give you your way out. You would push 
back.
  Well, I would hope that that pushback won't be sufficient. I would 
hope that you would receive it so that either you will sign it and move 
on, or it is not signed and it passes, or you can veto it.
  If you veto it, I believe that with the number of votes that I have 
called to your attention for passage in the House and Senate, that veto 
can be overridden. Again, you are off the hook. You are off the hook, 
but my fear is that knowing you, you are going to do everything that 
you can to avoid having that get to your desk so that you can then 
blame someone else for your inaction, which really would be your 
actions because you would have rejected having it being sent to you in 
the first place.
  Mr. Speaker, I close with this. I am proud to have been a person to 
vote for this piece of legislation. It is landmark. It is going to make 
a difference in the lives of people once it becomes law. My hope is 
that it will become law expeditiously because there are many aspects of 
it that will have to be activated, and it will take time for these 
things to be properly activated so that they become meaningful and can 
function.

                              {time}  1420

  I am hoping that you will sign it, but, Mr. President, if you don't 
sign it, here is what you are doing. You are providing another piece of 
ammunition for the countdown to impeachment.
  Now, why would I say this? Because, Mr. President, you have angered a 
good many Senators. A good many of them who might have considered other 
things will give some consideration to this word: impeachment.
  Impeachment starts in the House. It is the Senate that will vote to 
determine whether you are a person who should be actually convicted of 
the charge. The House acts as sort of a grand jury--not the same, but 
similar to. You have caused a lot of people in the House, Mr. 
President, who are going to give consideration to this word.
  Now, you may not be impeached for this bill, but you are giving 
people reasons to consider your impeachment for legitimate reasons that 
already exist, by the way. For legitimate reasons, you should be 
impeached already, but you haven't been.
  The countdown is still on. What you are doing is adding fuel to the 
fire of impeachment that may, at some point, become more than you can 
manage.
  I really do believe, Mr. President, that this act can help you by 
signing it, this bill. It is going to hurt you immensely if you don't 
sign it, not physically. I don't want your FBI concluding that somehow 
I would cause you any harm. I would never want to see you harmed, and 
anybody that would want to see you harmed, I am absolutely opposed to 
whatever they might do. You deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. I can tell you this: You also deserve impeachment.
  The countdown will continue. I trust that you will stall it and do 
something to benefit yourself by simply signing a piece of legislation 
that the American people want. The American people want it to the 
extent that the builders, Mr. President, are going to contact you, or 
some aspect of your administration, about it.
  You are going to have citizens calling your office at the White 
House. You are going to have people writing you letters. You are going 
to have plenty of communication to contend with because this piece of 
legislation is pervasive. It is huge. You are going to have people who 
have a vested interest in this legislation contacting somebody to let 
you know that you should sign this legislation.
  And still I rise, an unbought, unbossed, unelected, liberated 
Democrat.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Haridopolos). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President and to 
direct their remarks to the Chair.

                          ____________________