Both sides continue defending their votes on federal housing legislation that drew opposing votes from Alabama’s U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and Katie Britt (R-Montgomery).
Last week, Britt and Tuberville cast their votes for the bipartisan-backed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, touted as reforming and cutting regulatory red tape in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, a move supporters claim will address the nation’s housing supply shortage.
The bill passed the Senate last Monday 85-5, with Britt voting in favor and Tuberville joining U.S. Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in voting against it.
The bill was slated for President Donald Trump’s signature on Friday. However, Trump canceled the bill signing at the last minute, saying he would sign the housing measure into law only if Congress approved the SAVE America Act. This Trump administration priority would impose voter ID requirements and limit mail-in ballots.
SEE: ‘He’s focusing on rigging this year’s election‘: Sewell rants about Trump not signing housing bill
In the meantime, Tuberville has defended his “no” vote, claiming that the bill would not help the middle class. Rather, Tuberville claims, the legislation would continue to provide federal housing benefits to illegal aliens.
“We’re $39 trillion in debt,” Tuberville told Fox News. “We’re giving more money to a department that, to me, is just pushing money out the door, and we don’t know where it goes most of the time. Right now, most of it’s probably going to illegals living in this country. It’s not going to help the middle class. And if it helped the middle class, I’d be all in, but I think this is a bill that might touch a little bit of the middle class, but it’s going to a lot of people that are here illegally to build houses for them.”
There have been proven examples of illegal aliens receiving HUD benefits, such as so-called “non-permanent residents" receiving Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages, and in cases of “mixed status households,” where a DHS audit showed that HUD estimated around 24,000 illegal aliens, ineligibles, or fraudsters benefiting across roughly 20,000 mixed-status households.
Federal law also bars turning away illegals from accessing HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) for emergency and short-term housing.
Since Trump’s election, however, many of these avenues have been closed, with the administration announcing efforts to roll back loopholes allowed by previous leadership.
Britt contends that the housing bill would help American families, giving more citizens the ability to pursue home ownership, a reality of former generations that continues to grow more illusory for younger families each year.
“[S]he believes this housing bill makes meaningful changes to address our nation’s affordable housing crisis, including: helping move more people from government dependence to economic independence, helping disabled veterans access crucial housing assistance, modernizing outdated federal manufactured housing requirements to reduce costs, and helping preserve housing access for more than 400,000 rural families,” Britt’s teams said in response to questions from 1819 News.
It continued, “Importantly, the bill does not appropriate any new funds, and nothing in this legislation creates a new housing benefit for illegal aliens. While there is still more work to be done to ensure young families have an opportunity to own a home and reverse Biden-era mass migration policies.”
In the response, Britt’s team highlighted her bona fides as a combatant of illegal immigration, especially while serving under the Trump Administration.
“President Trump received a mandate from the American people to repeal the Biden Administration’s dangerous open-border, America Last policies,” the response continued. “His first bill signed into law, Senator Britt’s Laken Riley Act, was just the first step to strengthen border security and interior immigration enforcement in our nation and put American citizens first. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security Appropriations, she has continued her efforts to crack down on illegal immigration with the introduction of the Mandatory E-Verify Act of 2026 to eliminate the largest magnet for illegal immigration.”
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