Biden Is Stalling On A Rule That Would Save Americans Nearly $1.5 Billion

The regulation would change how much of the United States builds homes.

The Biden administration is racing to finalize regulations to curb planet-heating emissions from lightbulbs, automobiles and trucks before a key deadline, after which any new rules could be undone by Donald Trump if he retakes the White House.

With just over six months before the election, at least one major Biden proposal appears to be stalled: an update to the federal housing rules that agency experts estimate would save homeowners nearly three times more money on energy bills than it would add to construction costs, spread out over a 30-year mortgage.

Changing those housing rules would impact about 160,000 new houses and condos built each year in some of the nation’s fastest-growing — and most expensive — housing markets. The Biden administration is now looking to the rules as a model for reforming other federal housing programs, which would supercharge the White House’s efforts to curb both emissions and rising utility bills.

But the final rule is inching through the bureaucratic process at an unusually slow rate, taking weeks or months to advance to technical next steps that regulations can typically reach in a matter of days. It’s unclear what’s causing the delay. And due to a legal quirk, if President Joe Biden loses reelection, Trump could have final say over any rule enacted after May or June.

Critics of the greener housing rules say the changes would raise the price of new homes when half of Americans already say they can’t find affordable housing, home ownership rates are stagnating and the bulk of inflation stems from the climbing cost of shelter. Republicans tried to block the rule from taking effect last year.