The Landmark Housing Bill That Trump Refuses to Sign

Hi. It's Alexa Wible from New York Times Cooking. We've got tons of easy weeknight recipes, and today, I'm making my five ingredient creamy miso pasta. You just take your starchy pasta water, whisk it together with a little bit of miso and butter until it's creamy. Add your noodles and a little bit of cheese. It's like a grown up box of mac and cheese that feels like a restaurant quality dish. New York Times cooking has you covered with easy dishes for busy weeknights. You can find more at nytcooking.com. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. President Trump has called it the most comprehensive and consequential housing legislation in the history of our country. And a Congress controlled by his own party has now passed it by overwhelming margins. So why is the president refusing to sign it? Today, my colleague, Michael Gold, on the strange saga of a landmark housing bill. It's Monday, July 6. Michael Gold, always a pleasure. Happy to be here, Michael. Thanks. So over the next few days, president Trump has to make a decision that on paper, I think we can even argue objectively, seems kinda like a no brainer. That's how I would view it if I were a politician. So it seems very intuitive that the president would sign this housing bill because housing affordability is a major issue for Americans. It's something he talked about on the campaign trail when he was running in 2024. And the midterm elections are in about four months. And it would be a very clear demonstration that the president cares about affordability, cares about addressing his cost of living concerns, which is something that Republicans are very eager to demonstrate. Mhmm. But I think the fact that the president isn't signing this bill really exemplifies just how dysfunctional his relationship with Congress has become and how divergent his own interests are from Republicans in his party and from many of voters in the country. Well, tell us the story of this housing bill, which we really haven't covered all that much on the show, and how we got to this point where it has reached the president's desk. Sure. So I think anyone who has tried to buy a house, paid rent, looked for an apartment in the last few years can tell you the country's in the middle of a housing crisis. And it started in a lot of the big American cities, but it seems to have really spread across the country. And as both parties are campaigning in 2024, politicians across the political spectrum agree that they need to do something to address housing because people need a place to live. And without a place to live, you know, their chances of all kinds of economic security basically evaporate. Right. So the president takes office in January 2025. And he's not really saying much about housing. He has a handful of other priorities that …