PA pols react to President Trump nixing bipartisan housing legislation

A national Whole-Home Repairs pilot program is on hold after President Trump canceled the signing of a broad bipartisan housing bill on Wednesday, saying he wouldn’t sign the legislation until the Senate passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. 

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which includes zoning deregulation and new programs to help communities address housing affordability, was passed in overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion in both the U.S. House and Senate this week and met with celebration from many Pennsylvania elected officials. 

The Whole-Home Repairs section of the bill – which would create a federal pilot program to provide grants and loans to people to repair and weatherize aging homes – mirrors the commonwealth program of the same name. 

Pennsylvania’s Whole-Home Repairs program, championed by state Sen. Nikil Saval, received $125 million in funding in 2022 to help property owners repair and weatherize their homes and to support training and pre-apprenticeship programs. Referred to as a “one-stop shop” program for home repairs, Pennsylvania’s Whole-Home Repairs program benefitted nearly 4,000 households in its first iteration – and was so popular that the number of waitlisted households remains at roughly 17,000 – a number that officials believe is an undercount. 

Now, with Trump’s sudden move to refuse to sign the legislation unless the SAVE Act – a sweeping and highly criticized elections bill – receives congressional approval, the housing package has been halted. 

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. 

Saval said in a statement that in “the midst of a protracted housing affordability crisis, we must be doing everything we can to ensure working people have homes that are safe, healthy, and that they can afford.

“President Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the signing of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act ignores the dire need for relief for millions of people struggling to afford their rent, energy bills, or long-delayed home repairs—challenges that don’t know party or district bounds,” Saval said in a statement Wednesday. “This bill was the result of months of work by dozens of legislators, hundreds of advocates, and thousands of people across the United States. I remain hopeful that a path forward will be found and committed to continuing the fight against the overlapping housing and climate crises. My efforts are with those across our Commonwealth and our country who are committed to this, too.”

The majority of the Pennsylvania delegation also criticized the political decision, with GOP Rep. Scott Perry being the only exception. He backed up his vote against the bill – the only no vote cast among the state’s congressional delegation – and blamed the Senate for the disruption:  

Fellow Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who advocated for the legislation, has remained silent on the topic thus far, despite trumpeting its passage in the House on Tuesday with his Problem Solver Caucus compatriot, New York Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi. 

“(The bill) just cleared the house overwhelmingly … (If) you come up with a two-party solution, on affordability issues including this one, it can get the job done,” Fitzpatrick said Tuesday following passage. 

Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio and Mary Gay Scanlon spoke out against the move: 

The commonwealth’s senior U.S. senator, John Fetterman, who voted in support of the housing bill alongside Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, previously introduced a federal version of the Whole-Home Repairs program in 2024. 

“I’ve consistently maintained that our housing crisis needs real solutions that help address the problems at the center. I’m proud to see both of my bills included in the housing package that just passed the House – one ensures families can stay in their homes, and the other helps state partners enact zoning reforms,” Fetterman said in a statement Tuesday. “I want to thank State Senator Nikil Saval for being a strong advocate for the Whole-Home Repairs program in Pennsylvania and helping bring this to the national level.”

Fetterman and McCormick, who have both remained silent on the issue on social media Wednesday, didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

That latest version of the home repair bill would give homeowners and small landlords – those with fewer than 10 residential rental properties and not more than 50 total units, with a majority being affordable units and used as primary residences – grant and loan opportunities to rebuild and repair their aging homes much like the commonwealth-wide program. 

According to Politico, despite broad, bipartisan support for the broader housing bill in both the House and Senate, the two chambers went back and forth on the legislation for months over the more than-45 different provisions included in the bill. And just before passage on Tuesday, albeit unsuccessful, House GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna attempted to persuade members to stop proceedings. 

Trump then took a turn Wednesday morning, posting on Truth Social that he wouldn’t sign the bill unless the Senate moves forward with the SAVE Act – a move that’s even rattled some Republicans.  

The housing bill passed the House and Senate with large, veto-proof majorities, though if the president doesn’t sign the bill within 10 days and Congress adjourns, it could fall victim to a pocket veto.