Transcript of Trump Vs Thune, Road To Housing Act, Democratic Socialist Win In New York Primaries

President Trump could be in for a tense lunch day with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill today.

Last night, 4 Republican senators voted with Democrats on a resolution to end the war with Iran, but other issues like still-high gas prices could also put indigestion on the menu.

I'm Jimmy Martinez. That's Michelle Martin. And this is Up First from NPR News. Congress passed the biggest housing bill in decades with support from both parties. It bans big investors from buying up single-family homes and makes it easier to build. We'll hear about whether it'll actually make homes more affordable.

And all the congressional candidates endorsed by Mayor Zoran Momdani won primaries in New York last night.

We are showing there is a new path for politics in our city and in our country.

Now the Democratic Party is wrestling with how far left it should go heading into the midterms. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

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Listen to Fresh Air on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. President Trump is set to have lunch on Capitol Hill today with Senate Republicans. The meal comes amid rising tensions between Trump and his congressional colleagues.

Last night, 4 Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to advance a resolution directing Trump to pull troops out of the conflict. Conflict with Iran. On the other hand, Trump has also repeatedly blown up their strategy for getting legislation passed, even while venting his frustration online with Majority Leader John Thune about not getting what he wants done.

NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass has been keeping a close eye on this relationship, and he's with us now. Good morning, Sam.

Good morning, Michelle.

So, so how is this disconnect playing out on the Hill?

So just to give you one example of this, Majority Leader Thune thought he had a plan last week to get this key spy tool reauthorized. Democrats were threatening to block it over Trump's pick for acting director of national intelligence. And if Thune could quickly confirm a more acceptable permanent pick, the crisis could be averted. Then, just before that confirmation hearing, Trump blew up the plan in a 4 a.m. social media post. Senate Republicans were stunned. The blowback was swift. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski described it to me like sled dogs startled by a moose. You got half the team going over here and half the team going over here. It is chaos.

And then what that musher has to do is he's got to stop and spend all of his time untangling this mess.

And as the musher of the Senate, Thune has had to untangle lots of these messes lately.

So why can't they get on the same page when it comes to strategy? Is it that they don't agree on the goal, or what is it?

So this conflict stems in large part from Trump's push for a strict voter ID law, the Save America Act. He says Republicans will never win another election without it. The reality is that there are just not the votes to pass it in the Senate. Trump has called on Thune to skirt the 60-vote threshold there by eliminating the filibuster. Last week, in a post that actually mentioned Thune, he called anyone against that idea a fool. The White House said in a statement that Trump enjoys working with Thune, but Michelle, it's Thune that often has to give Trump a reality check.

So what does all this say? What do these episodes say about Thune and his relationship with Trump?

Yeah, Republican Senator John Kennedy told me Thune is like a golden retriever. No one dislikes him. Translation there, Trump's conflict with Thune is really just not personal. And most of the Republican caucus is still behind their leader. And for Thune, the filibuster is about preserving the consensus-driven nature of the Senate. That's what former Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told me. He's a friend of Thune's.

He feels very strongly that the institution matters, and we get the best legislation when you have input by Republican and Democrat.

So, Sam, are there tangible implications as a result of this friction between the two men?

Some Republicans worry Trump is undercutting their shared agenda and focusing more on 2020 than 2026, pushing old claims about stolen elections and targeting incumbents he sees as disloyal. Some of those departing members now feel more uninhibited, like Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who provided a crucial vote to advance that War Powers Act. I did ask Thune whether he worries Trump's actions will hurt Republicans this fall, and he said focusing on pocketbook issues will be the path to keeping the majority. I pressed him, though, if it is hard to stay focused on those things right now. And Thune told me he is trying his best.

That is NPR's Sam Greenglass. Sam, thank you.

You're welcome.

Congress passed the largest housing bill in decades last night with strong bipartisan support.

The measure now heads to the president's desk for a signature. So what will it actually do to help with housing affordability?

Here to tell us about it is NPR personal finance reporter Stephen Bassaha. Stephen, good morning.

Good morning, Michelle.

So homeownership is a big part of the American dream, but it's just financially out of reach for many people right now. Why is that?

Yeah, well, there are a lot of reasons the cost of homeownership has gone up. Like, you know, mortgage rates have risen over the past several years. Wages have recently fallen behind inflation. The cost of land alone has skyrocketed about 75% since the pandemic. And then there's the classic supply and demand problem. The U.S. is short millions of homes. By some counts, about 4 or 5 million units short of the demand. And, you know, that sends prices up.

So what does this legislation try to do to make homeownership more attainable?

Well, probably the part of the bill that's gotten the most attention is that it will ban corporate investors from buying up tons of single-family homes. Politicians like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Trump have all blamed private equity for gobbling up these homes by putting down cash offers, and that also drives up prices. So this legislation will make it so those big investors can't buy up more than 350 homes. Now, these investors, they do just make up a tiny fraction of the overall housing market. But I did speak with Senator Warren, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill with Republican Senator Tim Scott, and she pointed out how in some places like Atlanta, corporations own a big slice of the market.

If you don't live in a neighborhood where private equity has already moved in, believe me, you're on their list. Okay, so that's one change, but this bill has more than 40 parts to it. What else stands out to you?

Yeah, one of the core ideas of this bill is to make it easier for homebuilders to build homes, and it does that by streamlining federal housing regulation. Like, for example, if there's a new building going up between two that already got an environmental review, Builders really kind of skip that step. Another provision creates a grant to have communities develop like essentially a Sears catalog of pre-approved housing designs. So builders need fewer approvals to get up to code. And when I asked researchers, there was like one thing they were most excited about, this corner of the housing market that sort of has been forgotten about and stigmatized.

Okay, what corner is that?

Yeah, that is manufactured homes. They are cheaper to build than other homes, and this bill will make it so that's even cheaper by getting rid of a part that most owners don't that you don't even need. That is this permanent chassis, this metal frame that lets you transport it. You know, mobile homes are rarely actually mobile. They usually stay in just one spot. This bill gets rid of that chassis requirement because it's not needed in many cases. That alone could save $5,000 or $10,000 off the price tag, so it can make a pretty big difference here.

Okay, yeah, I see that point. But, you know, housing problems have been a problem for a while. I mean, you've been reporting on this. If President Trump signs this bill like he's expected to do, how soon before Americans could notice some relief?

Well, it's going to take a while to feel most effects of this bill. It's just going to, you know, take time to encourage more new homebuilding and just actually build the homes. The bill also encourages local governments to do some reforms because they have actually a lot of power over how fast houses get built. And there will still be other challenges like mortgage rates and land costs. But, you know, Warren said it's been about 30 years since the federal government really took on any major housing legislation. Now she says lawmakers have finally actually moved.

That is NPR personal finance reporter Stephen Bisaha. Stephen, thank you.

Thank you.

We have an update to this story. This morning, President Trump abruptly canceled the bill signing for that bipartisan housing legislation, saying he would refuse to allow it to become law until the Senate passes his election legislation, the Save America Act. Senate Republicans have repeatedly said they do not have the votes to get that through.

Following New York's primary Tuesday night, the Democratic Party is facing questions about its future and just how far left it will go after the victories of two Democratic Socialist candidates in congressional primaries.

And less than a year after taking office, New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani swept the first major test of his political influence within the city thanks to primary wins by candidates he backed.

Reporter Steve Kastenbaum was following last night's results, and he's with us now for an early morning after a late night. Thanks, Steve.

Oh, my pleasure. Thank you.

So how did the night turn out? For Mamdani and his slate of Democratic candidates.

Well, the mayor really flexed his muscle in this election, and it paid off in a very big way. All 3 candidates he backed won their primary races, and in one of the biggest upsets last night, 5-term Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat went down in a narrow loss to Democratic Socialist Daria-Liza Aviles Chevalier. Mayor Mamdani spoke at her election night party after the Associated Press called the race.

And it is because you poured your hearts into this, because you poured your hopes into this, that we are showing there is a new path for politics in our city and in our country.

Esbayat chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He sits on the very powerful Appropriations Committee. This is a huge loss for the Democratic establishment.

And what about these primary winners? How did they— those who are aligned with Mondani— how did they talk about their victory?

Well, they were celebrating, of course. Chevalier used her victory to fire a shot at that Democratic power structure.

Today we make it clear the politics of the past ends today.

Mondoni also stumped heavily for Claire Valdez. She's a state assembly member. She was declared the winner in Brooklyn's 7th Congressional District. That seat is being vacated by retiring Representative Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress. She backed another candidate, Antonio Reynoso. Valdez is also with the DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America. The candidates backed by Mamdani were highly critical of Israeli actions in Gaza. That includes former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. He's a close friend of the mayor, and he had a big win over incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman. All of these districts are heavily Democratic, so all three will likely go on to D.C.

OK, Steve, to your point, though, these primaries happen in what are considered safe blue districts in New York City. So how do these wins fit into the broader aim of the Democratic effort to retake the House in November?

Well, Mayor Mondani and his followers are arguing that this energizes young voters and they think it could help with voter turnout in the fall. They think that their anti-corruption, anti-billionaire, pro-affordability message resonates with a broad range of Americans. Centrist Democrats, they have their concerns. They need to flip seats in swing districts to win over moderate Republicans to do that. And they worry that the move further to the left could hurt that effort. The Republican Party could use socialist wins to argue that Dems moving the country too far to the left.

Real quick, Steve, there's a toss-up race left in New York suburbs. Democrats hope to flip a seat held by Republican Representative Mike Lawler. How'd that turn out?

Well, Kate Connolly, an Army combat vet and a former member of the Biden administration, won that race. Lauer beat her close opponent by a wide margin. Democrats expected to pour a lot of money into that race to defeat Lauer. He's trying to distance himself from President Trump, but the president campaigned for him at a rally in his district.

That is reporter Steve Kastenbaum in New York. Steve, thank you.

My pleasure.

And that's Up First for Wednesday, June 24th. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm Emilio Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow. Kara Platoni, Padma Rama, Mohammed El Bardisi, and Olivia Hampton. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our supervising producer is Reena Advani. Join us again tomorrow. Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of FRESH AIR. Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians—the people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY.

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