Housing bill

Johnson says housing bill will become law

House GOP leadership has warned Congress would override a presidential veto.

By Kelsey Brugger and Meredith Lee Hill

Speaker Mike Johnson says the landmark housing affordability package Congress passed earlier this month will become law — and that Republicans won’t have to take an uncomfortable vote to override a presidential veto to make that happen.

In an interview Monday night, Johnson said President Donald Trump is still “deciding” whether he’ll sign the bipartisan housing bill or just let it go into effect within 10 days of receiving the legislation while Congress is in session.

“There won’t be a veto,” he said. “He’s just trying to decide whether he’s signing it or not.”

Shortly thereafter, Johnson reiterated he believed the bill will become law.

“We agreed to talk about it again tomorrow,” Johnson said of Trump, with whom he met earlier in the day.

Trump, just hours before, said in remarks to the press “I don’t know” when asked about the housing bill’s fate.

Johnson’s comments come as Republicans are still reeling from Trump’s about-face last week, when he abruptly canceled plans to sign the legislation with great fanfare on Capitol Hill — suddenly saying he would hold the measure hostage until Congress passed a stalled GOP elections bill he’s been demanding for months.

While that bill, known as the SAVE America Act, has passed the House in earlier iterations, it does not have the votes to pass the Senate.

Congress does, however, have the votes to override a veto of the housing package, House GOP leadership has been warning the White House, according to three people granted anonymity to share their knowledge of private conversations.