Build America Caucus

But if they are, I've already done a lot of bipartisan work that I can continue to do if I'm in the minority.

So I'm the Republican co-chair of the bipartisan Build America Caucus.

And the Build America Caucus has spent the last year coming up with an agenda of items that we agree on, on both sides of the aisle, that we need to get passed that are good for Americans.

And we did this.

Over the last year, it has looked more like Republicans might be in control next year, sometimes more like Democrats might be in control next year.

But what changes here is the relationship between procedure and progress.

Rather than say, "Oh, let's just take as long as possible to make sure every single stakeholder has a fair chance to stop this project," instead we say, "Let's hear everybody we can on deadline." Today's guest is Representative Josh Harder, a Democrat from California, and the co-chair of the bipartisan Build America Caucus, which has developed its own abundance style agenda spanning housing, healthcare, energy, education, and innovation.

Today, we talk about the surprising political victories of abundance, why some of its ideas seem to be winning even as commentators declare the movement dead, what it would take to turn a handful of legislative victories into something bigger, a government and maybe a liberalism that actually builds, that actually puts points on the board.

I'm Derek Thompson.

Representative Josh Harder, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me.

You are the co-chair of the Build America Caucus.

Your co-chair, Celeste Maloy, is a Republican from Utah.

And he, on that podcast episode, he talked about the need to go beyond what's in the Road to Housing Act.

And, uh, and so he's following up along with the bipartisan Build America Caucus.

They released the Build More agenda, which includes 60 policy proposals focused on housing affordability and availability.

According to Multifamily Dive, the caucus is focused on measures that the law didn't comprehensively address, such as development financing, restrictive zoning, building codes, and streamlining federal housing systems, according to Congressman Harder.

Uh, he said financing is a focus because there wasn't a whole lot of that in the bill, and, uh, he notes that's a problem because interest rates have obviously gone up.

So kudos to Congressman Harder and to the Build America Caucus.

Certainly hope this goes somewhere.

All right.

From Spring Street Management Group, this is the Spring Street Brief, your daily briefing on affordable housing in America.

I'm your AI host, and today we're discussing the Build America Caucus's new Build More agenda and its proposed Buy America exemption for affordable housing.

The Build America Caucus has released its Build More agenda ahead of the twenty twenty-six midterm elections, and one of its most consequential provisions for our audience is a proposed exemption of affordable housing from Buy America Build America requirements, commonly known as BABA.

The caucus is co-chaired by Representative Josh Harder, a Democrat from California, and Representative Celeste Maloy, a Republican from Utah, making this a rare bipartisan signal on a topic that has quietly become one of the more frustrating cost drivers in LIE tech and HUD-assisted development.

BABA requirements mandate that federally funded projects use American-made materials across a range of construction inputs.