Elizabeth Warren’s Amazingly Progressive Housing Bill

Yesterday on Capitol Hill, as Democrats and Republicans continued bitterly wrangling over the terms for funding the Department of Homeland Security, and the parties divided over Trump’s catastrophic miscalculation on the Iran war, the Senate harmoniously passed the most expansive housing bill in 36 years. The bipartisan vote was 89-to-10.

The 303-page legislation creates new programs and federal money for housing construction, promotes manufactured housing, while streamlining zoning and permitting obstacles and improving access to mortgages. A key measure aimed at private equity prevents Wall Street from buying large numbers of single-family homes. The bill would allow construction of single-family homes as rentals, but companies with more than 350 units would have to sell them within seven years.

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Even more improbably for casual observers, the bill reflected the legislative and political genius of one of the Senate’s most progressive members, Elizabeth Warren. How does the senator do it? Two ways.

First, think of a Venn diagram. For the most part, Republican and Democratic principles and politics on how to contain and complement rapacious capitalism diverge. But there are some areas of potential overlap where Republicans find it expedient to embrace a bit of economic populism. The massive public outcry on behalf of affordable housing is one. And while Republicans push tax cuts and lifting regulatory restraints to help oligarchs, a symbolic kick now and then is good cover.

Warren’s genius is to identify those areas and pursue legislative opportunities—this is part two of her strategy—to find a Republican partner. In this case, her lead co-sponsor was Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee on which Warren serves as ranking Democrat, and the Senate’s only Black Republican.

Uniquely among the Senate’s progressives, Warren’s signature is enlisting Republicans to co-sponsor legislation to constrain capitalist excesses.

Having identified a need, a remedy, and a window of opportunity, Warren, aided by Scott, worked the room. A cascade of Republican support followed.

And with Trump desperate to embrace an affordability agenda and a whack at private equity, our president signed on. Only one Democrat in the pocket of the private equity industry, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, voted no, as my colleague David Dayen explains here.

The substantive strategy of one part regulatory constraints on predatory landlords, one part new federal housing money, and one part eased zoning and other bureaucratic restrictions also perfectly chimed with the “Mamdani moment.” As a fellow progressive, New York’s new mayor has embraced a very similar formula. This is leading from the left at its best.

A fine indicator of success is when The Wall Street Journal editorial page is apoplectic. Their March 10 editorial, titled “Elizabeth Warren’s Housing Coup,” begins: “Republicans want to show voters they’re doing something to ease housing costs. The result, alas, is a pork-filled bill hitting the Senate floor this week that is [a] big win for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the political left.”

Bingo.

Nor was this success a one-off. Uniquely among the Senate’s progressives, Warren’s signature is enlisting Republicans to co-sponsor legislation to constrain capitalist excesses. Among Warren’s recent bipartisan economic populist measures:

She and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley got Congress to pass legislation allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter.

Warren and Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy persuaded Congress to enact a taxpayer rights law aimed to protect small taxpayers who make innocent errors.

Warren has worked with Josh Hawley of Missouri on several measures to contain predatory capitalism, including the well-named Break Up Big Medicine Act. While that hasn’t passed yet, the duo succeeded in passing legislation to mandate airline refunds in cases of cancellations or long-delayed flights.

She has also enlisted several Republican measures to protect U.S. advanced technology from falling into the hands of China, including the Chip Security Act, co-sponsored with Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

And there are a great deal more. Though Warren is the prime architect, all of these measures and many others have Republican lead sponsors.

The value of this legislation is not just on the merits. It’s a reminder that a progressive form of bipartisanship is still possible, given leadership on the Democratic side, and it moves the public agenda in a progressive direction.

Warren is one of a kind. No other Democrat is doing this. She combines a deep knowledge of capitalism and its abuses with brilliance as a legislative strategist.

Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, does have a few bipartisan achievements, from funding for community health centers to bills reforming the veterans health care system. But at this point, few Republicans would touch anything with his name on it, and for the most part that suits Sanders just fine. Bernie’s role in American politics is uniquely valuable, but he’s a different sort of progressive.

A weaker version of the housing bill passed the House in January. It now goes either back to the House or to conference committee. Developer and private equity groups have been frantically working key House leaders to water it down. But given broad Republican support for the Senate version, most key provisions are likely to survive intact.

As the appalled Wall Street Journal editorial put it, in excoriating Warren’s housing coup, “Imagine how a Democratic administration will exploit this sweeping power. How about a nationwide eviction moratorium or rent control? The bill also instructs the Housing and Urban Development Department to establish housing ‘best practices’ for local governments—solar panels on all homes!”

Exactly. Bring it on!