U.S. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), on Jan. 13 released the committee’s Reconciliation 2.0 framework, which he said serves as a roadmap for House Republicans’ next reconciliation bill to tackle the affordability crisis.
Entitled “Making the American Dream Affordable Again,” the plan lays out a strategy to increase homeownership, reduce healthcare premiums, cut energy prices, rebuild the American family, and decrease wasteful government spending while codifying President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.
“It’s no secret that families across the nation are paying more for gas, housing, and health care because of failed Biden-era policies,” Rep. Pfluger said. “This plan takes a sledgehammer to that unaffordable agenda, cutting waste, unleashing American energy, and making it easier for Texans to own a home, afford high-quality health care, and keep more of their hard-earned paycheck.”
According to the congressman, the RSC’s Reconciliation 2.0 Framework centers on three pillars rooted in the enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act to deliver affordability:
- Housing: Expanding supply, lowering mortgage barriers, eliminating marriage penalties, and ending policies that crowd Americans out of the housing market.
- Health Care: Lowering drug prices, increasing transparency, and ensuring taxpayer-funded benefits serve American citizens not bureaucrats or special interests.
- Energy: Cutting red tape, accelerating permitting, and driving down energy bills and prices at the pump.
For example, one path to homeownership listed in the framework calls for creating “The Don” Down Payment program, a zero-to-low down payment option through the Federal Housing Administration for creditworthy borrowers. This would eliminate one of the single greatest barriers to homeownership for working families, according to the document.
Another pathway would be to expand access to mortgage portability and assumability for Americans with mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, allowing homeowners to keep their existing mortgage rate when purchasing a new home and/or enabling new homeowners to assume the previous owner’s mortgage.
Among other strategies, the framework also aims to achieve more than $1 trillion in net deficit reduction, and would permanently codify more of Trump’s executive actions to ensure future administrations cannot reverse them, according to the 11-page framework.