Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas) and his colleagues at the Republican Study Committee (RSC) are rolling out a Making the American Dream Affordable Again plan as a potential target for a second reconciliation, which could be a popular idea according to polling obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
For months, Pfluger has worked with committee chairs, outside stakeholders, and industry experts on his rollout for a second reconciliation. At the core of his proposal is home ownership. “For Democrats, affordability is a buzzword,” the RSC’s proposal reads. “For us, it’s a mission.”
Pfluger’s plan’s very first point is to “restore the American Dream of homeownership by incentivizing the sale of affordable homes, selling off underutilized government buildings, and enabling the free market to slash the cost of mortgages and down payments.” This plan comes as President Donald Trump and his administration are rolling out a series of measures to lower costs of home ownership.
The RSC also conducted polling which shows that Pfluger’s measures are broadly popular with the electorate writ large. The polling, conducted by Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) Action and by the Center for Excellence in Polling, shows that provisions like taxing the purchase of American homes by foreign buyers, abolishing capital gains taxes for property owners who sell a rental property to the person currently renting it, streamlining permits to bolster new construction, and making government-backed mortgages transferable all have the support of 64 percent of those surveyed.
“President Biden spent four years making everything more expensive,” Pfluger said, following his report’s release. “President Trump and Republicans will spend the next three making the American Dream affordable again.”
“This blueprint,” Pfluger continued, “cuts costs where families feel it most — housing, health care, and energy — slashes woke and wasteful spending, and locks in President Trump’s deregulatory agenda through the only process Democrats can’t block: reconciliation. We’re focused on results — lower prices, more freedom, and a stronger future for American families. We have 11 months of guaranteed majorities. We’re not wasting a single day.”
Several of the proposals that FGA Action found popular are in Pfluger’s plan to help young Americans afford to buy a home. Among those are “Don Payments,” which would reduce or eliminate down payments for first time homeowners with good credit, the creation of Home Savings Accounts that allow young Americans to start saving earlier for a house tax free, and the elimination of capital gains taxes when selling a property to a first time homeowner.
Elsewhere in Pfluger’s second reconciliation plan are proposals to lower costs for health care and energy. Almost 70 percent of the package’s proposals have already been introduced in some form by House Republicans, and Pfluger’s rollout details in painstaking detail how it will hit its benchmarks of “over $1.6 trillion in reductions, achieving net deficit reduction of over $1 trillion.” Each Byrd-tested proposal comes with a budget score. For example, the provision to “prohibit illegal aliens and non-permanent residents from using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit” carries with it a score of “$11 billion reduction in spending.” On the flip side, moves like the one to “repeal the federal death tax” carries with it a score of “281 billion decrease in revenues.”