“Trump is single-handedly holding it up,” Oregon Sen. Merkley urges President Trump to sign bill he says delivers the “biggest investment in housing in 30 years” ← Best

Oregon – Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is urging President Donald Trump to sign what lawmakers have described as the largest federal housing package in decades, arguing that delaying the legislation is preventing much-needed reforms aimed at improving housing affordability and expanding homeownership.

“Democrats and Republicans came together to pass the biggest investment in housing in 30 years,” Merkley wrote in a social media post. “Trump is single-handedly holding it up. SIGN THE BILL!”

Merkley’s comments come after Congress approved the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a sweeping housing package that passed both the Senate and House with overwhelming bipartisan support. The legislation includes measures intended to increase the nation’s housing supply, reduce barriers to new construction, expand affordable housing programs and place new restrictions on large institutional investors purchasing single-family homes, Roll Call reported.

Although the bill cleared Congress with veto-proof margins, Trump postponed a planned signing ceremony after saying he would not sign the measure until Congress first passed separate voter identification legislation known as the SAVE America Act. The White House’s decision surprised lawmakers from both parties, particularly because the housing bill had attracted broad bipartisan support as one of the few major pieces of legislation to unite Republicans and Democrats this Congress.

According to multiple reports, House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the legislation will still become law if it is neither signed nor vetoed within the constitutional time period while Congress remains in session, although Trump’s decision has delayed implementation of several housing initiatives contained in the package, HDT reported.

Merkley has been one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates for addressing housing affordability. Following Senate passage of the bill in June, he praised provisions that would limit institutional investors’ ability to purchase large numbers of single-family homes.

“For too long, the dream of owning a home has been made harder when working families are forced to compete against all-cash, no-inspection offers,” Merkley said after the Senate approved the legislation. He added that “houses in our communities should be homes for families, not profit centers for Wall Street.”

In a recent video discussing the legislation, Merkley reflected on his experience working with Habitat for Humanity more than three decades ago, saying it shaped his understanding of why homeownership matters.

“You know, it was three and a half decades ago, as the director of a branch of Habitat for Humanity, I learned the power of home ownership for families,” Merkley said.

He described meeting families who had previously been living in basements, vans or moving from couch to couch before purchasing homes through the nonprofit organization.

Merkley also emphasized that home equity remains the primary source of wealth for many middle-class Americans.

“The major source of wealth for middle-class families in America… it’s equity in homes,” he said. “Homeownership is stability and it’s investment.”

The senator said those experiences led him to focus on the growing role of hedge funds and institutional investors in the housing market.

“I started hearing about those hedge funds buying up huge numbers of homes that should have gone to homeowners,” Merkley said, adding that residents at town hall meetings across Oregon consistently expressed frustration with large investment firms competing against families trying to buy homes.

Among its provisions, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act seeks to streamline housing development, modernize federal housing programs, encourage local communities to increase housing construction, expand affordable housing opportunities and impose the first federal limits on institutional investors acquiring single-family homes. Supporters argue the legislation represents the most significant congressional effort to address housing affordability in more than three decades.

The legislation remains one of the most significant bipartisan policy achievements of the current Congress, even as political disagreements over unrelated election legislation have delayed its final enactment.