By Joe Light
The broadening war in the Middle East could prove to be time-consuming for Congress -- and in so doing put a significant part of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda at risk.
Lawmakers are racing against the clock to pass two major pieces of legislation that the White House has supported. The first is a housing bill that, among other provisions, includes a section meant to prevent large institutional investors such as Blackstone from buying single-family homes. The second, more complicated, endeavor is a bill that would set the rules for the cryptocurrency industry, a longtime goal of major digital-assets companies including Coinbase Global.
Those bills sat on shaky ground even before the U.S. and Israel last week attacked Iran. Depending on how the war unfolds, the conflict could dim the prospects for one or both of the bills to pass this year.
"If the Iran situation lingers, it will preoccupy more and more of Congress' time," said Stifel Chief Washington Strategist Brian Gardner. "The domestic agenda depends on the length of the engagement."
Democrats expect the Senate to vote Wednesday on a resolution to restrict Trump's use of force against Iran. The resolution would need to pass with a two-thirds majority in the Senate and House of Representatives to overpower a veto -- a level of support it's unlikely to get.
At the same time, the Iran conflict is putting greater focus on the fight to fund the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has been partially shut down since mid-February amid a standoff on immigration enforcement. Some Republicans are using the Iran attacks to put pressure on Democrats to relent.
"Given the situation in the Middle East and the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack, it is imperative that @SenSchumer and @RepJeffries immediately drop all opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security," wrote Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) in a post on X.
The focus on geopolitics could leave less time for Trump's domestic agenda.
The easier lift for Congress is on housing. This week, the Senate plans to vote on a bill that would make it easier to build manufactured homes, reduce environmental reviews and other inspections for housing construction, and implement other provisions that some lawmakers say will make it easier to build or renovate homes.
Critically for certain institutional investors like Blackstone, the bill also includes a Trump-supported provision that would fine institutional investors who buy and rent out single-family homes. Trump and some Democrats have argued that institutional purchases have squeezed out Americans who want to buy a home.
The White House threw its support behind the bill this week, releasing a an official statement that Trump would sign the bill into law if it hit his desk.
In the past, such investors have argued that they're a small part of the overall market. Blackstone itself has said it for years has been a net-seller of single-family homes, and that such investments are a tiny portion of the firm's overall business.
Blackstone did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
A procedural step to advance the bill passed on Monday with wide bipartisan support, and the Senate is expected to vote on final passage of the bill in coming days. The House would still have to pass the bill before it would land on Trump's desk.
The path forward for the crypto bill is more fraught. For the past several weeks, crypto firms and banks have squabbled over whether the bill should include provisions to ban the payment of yield on deposits of stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is typically pegged to the dollar.
Bank trade groups have argued that yield payments could suck out deposits, especially from community banks. Crypto firms want to pay the yields, which some of them call "rewards," to encourage more consumers to buy the tokens, which are often a precursor to investing in other digital assets.
Recent discussions between the White House, banks, and digital assets firms have centered on allowing crypto firms to pay rewards when stablecoins are used -- but not when they're merely held at a firm.
Even if a deal is reached on that issue, the negotiations won't be done. Some Democrats have said any crypto legislation must include a prohibition on Trump and his family from profiting on crypto. The Trump family, among other projects, co-founded World Liberty Financial, which offers several crypto products and services.
The White House has said the Trump family's crypto businesses are not a conflict of interest.
"Crypto has a shorter runway" than housing, Gardner said. "It's less bipartisan, more complicated and so it has to be done sooner rather than later.
Gardner said that if the bill isn't passed by the Senate Banking Committee by the end of March, the prospects of it becoming law this year fall precipitously. The House passed a similar bill last year, but it would have to vote again on a revised version before Trump would have the chance to sign it into law.
There's still time. But between the Iran war, must-pass spending bills, and the November midterm elections, the window is closing.
Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 03, 2026 16:06 ET (21:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments