- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
With long-awaited federal affordable housing legislation in limbo, two Tampa Bay congresswomen remain starkly divided. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is leading efforts to stall the bill, while Rep. Kathy Castor decries the bureaucratic roadblock.
President Donald Trump, to the dismay of many Republicans, refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on Wednesday. The legislation, which passed with overwhelming and atypical bipartisan support, expedites new construction, streamlines the storm recovery funding process, restricts institutional investors from owning over 350 homes, and incentivizes the development or improvement of new and existing properties.
Luna, who represents most of Pinellas County, led a group of hardline conservatives in opposing the legislation in a 358-32 House vote. She believes that Congress should first pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which requires people to show documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification when casting a ballot.
Trump agreed. He pledged not to sign the housing legislation until the Senate passes the “desperately needed SAVE America Act.” While shocked Republican leadership has called that essentially impossible due to intraparty opposition, Luna remains defiant.
Luna told Fox News on Wednesday night that she and 24 other representatives are “not voting on anything that the Senate sends over unless they pass voter ID.”
“I’m not interested in opening the floor anytime soon, unless they (senators) can, no nonsense, present me with the plan that says here’s how we are actually going to get this passed and finished,” Luna said of SAVE. “I applaud the president for what he is doing.”
Castor, whose district currently includes the City of Tampa, South St. Petersburg, and parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, expressed pride in the bipartisan work to pass much-needed legislation and belatedly address an affordable housing crisis that has long plagued the region and nation.
Many experts believe the SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions of citizens. Castor previously told WFLA that the legislation was “intended to suppress the vote because Republican policies and Trump policies are very unpopular.”
“The President’s last-minute decision today to cancel the signing of the critical 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to push a bill to limit access to the ballot box ignored the real needs of American families and young people trying to buy a home in an increasingly unaffordable economy,” Castor said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I urge President Trump to reverse course and sign the bill to rein in the cost of housing for American families.”
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