Bills

Editorial summary

GET/v1/bills/{billId}/summaryData + Analysis

Our plain-English summary of what the bill does, with citations to its sections, and answers to the questions people ask about it. Ready to show to readers.

curl "https://api.thelobbynews.com/v1/bills/119-hr-6644/summary" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lobby_live_..."

Response 200

{
  "billId": "119-hr-6644",
  "textVersion": "Enrolled Bill",
  "generatedAt": "2026-10-29T07:20:51.962Z",
  "status": "fresh",
  "fields": {
    "snapshot": {
      "text": "A twelve-title housing omnibus that trims construction red tape, frees factory-built homes from the steel chassis rule, rewrites HOME and rural housing programs, and limits big investors from buying more single-family homes. It became law in July 2026 without the president's sign…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "actions",
          "billId": "119-hr-6644"
        }
      ]
    },
    "summary": {
      "text": "Washington's housing policy has mostly been about helping people pay for homes, not about getting more of them built. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act pushes on the other side of that ledger. It is a twelve-title omnibus that trims federal review steps that slow construction,…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "bill",
          "billId": "119-hr-6644"
        },
        {
          "kind": "actions",
          "billId": "119-hr-6644"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-ii.s-206"
        }
      ]
    },
    "coreMechanism": {
      "text": "Authority sits mostly with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, with Agriculture, Treasury, the FDIC, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency each running a slice. HUD gets zoning guideline duties with no power to punish non-adopters, a competitive Innovation Fund, and…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-i.s-107"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-ii.s-208"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-ii.s-213"
        }
      ]
    },
    "whyNow": {
      "text": "This is not a reauthorization with an expiring authority forcing the vote. Its clocks start at enactment instead: the Innovation Fund is authorized from fiscal 2027, the block grant growth adjustment begins in the third full fiscal year, and the investor limits take effect 180 da…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-x.s-1001"
        },
        {
          "kind": "web",
          "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/11/21st-century-road-to-housing-act-homebuyers-sellers.html"
        },
        {
          "kind": "web",
          "url": "https://yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/u-treasury-proposes-rules-barring-163436510.html"
        }
      ]
    },
    "supporters": {
      "text": "The coalition is unusually wide. Sponsor Rep. J. French Hill drew 31 cosponsors, 16 Democrats and 15 Republicans, including Housing and Insurance Subcommittee chair Mike Flood and ranking member Emanuel Cleaver. In the Senate, Banking Chairman Tim Scott and Democrat Catherine Cor…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "member",
          "bioguideId": "H001072"
        },
        {
          "kind": "bill",
          "billId": "119-hr-6644"
        },
        {
          "kind": "member",
          "bioguideId": "F000474"
        }
      ]
    },
    "skeptics": {
      "text": "Large investors that control 350 or more single-family homes may not buy more, face civil penalties of up to $1 million per violation or three times the purchase price, and must notify HUD annually and give renters notice of a dispute hotline. States that miss the chassis-less ma…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-x.s-1001"
        },
        {
          "kind": "web",
          "url": "https://www.cato.org/blog/there-back-again-21st-century-road-housing-act"
        },
        {
          "kind": "web",
          "url": "https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/finance-and-economy/4482512/major-housing-bill-industry-pushback-ban-purchases-large-investors/"
        }
      ]
    },
    "politicalContext": null,
    "conspicuouslyAbsent": {
      "text": "The biggest gap is money. A housing package with this many new programs authorizes one dollar figure, $200 million a year for the Innovation Fund, while section 1202 says no additional funds are authorized. The whole-home repairs pilot, planning grants, and manufactured housing g…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-xii.s-1202"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-x.s-1001"
        }
      ]
    },
    "titleAccuracy": {
      "text": "The title lands for most of the bill and stretches for the rest. \"ROAD to Housing\" fits the permitting, zoning, grant, manufactured housing, and mortgage provisions that make up the bulk of Titles I through V. It undersells how much is not about building homes at all: community b…",
      "citations": [
        {
          "kind": "bill",
          "billId": "119-hr-6644"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-ix.s-901"
        },
        {
          "kind": "section",
          "sectionPath": "t-xi.s-1101"
        }
      ]
    },
    "messagingVsSubstantive": null
  },
  "sources": [],
  "faq": [
    {
      "slug": "faq-what-it-does",
      "question": "What does the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) do?",
      "answer": "The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) became law on July 11, 2026 as Public Law 119-101 without the president's signature. It is a twelve-title housing package aimed mainly at building more homes. It directs HUD to expand environmental review exemptions for infill hous…"
    },
    {
      "slug": "faq-effective",
      "question": "When does the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act take effect?",
      "answer": "The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law on July 11, 2026, and its provisions start on different schedules. The investor purchase ban takes effect 180 days after enactment, and states must submit manufactured home certifications within one year. HUD must publish zoning gui…"
    },
    {
      "slug": "faq-who-affected",
      "question": "Who does the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act affect?",
      "answer": "The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act reaches HUD, the Agriculture and Treasury departments, the FDIC, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Cities and urban counties receive Community Development Block Grant and Innovation Fund money. States with manufactured housing laws must…"
    }
  ]
}

A real response, trimmed for length: lists cut to three items, long text shortened.

Path parameters

Name	Description
billIdrequiredstring	Congress, type and number, e.g. 119-hr-1234.

Response

Field	Description
billIdstring
textVersionstring	The text version the summary describes.
generatedAtstring
status"fresh" \| "stale" \| "unresolved"	stale: the bill changed after this was written.
fieldsobject
fields.snapshotCitedText \| null
fields.summaryCitedText \| null
fields.coreMechanismCitedText \| null
fields.whyNowCitedText \| null
fields.supportersCitedText \| null
fields.skepticsCitedText \| null
fields.politicalContextCitedText \| null
fields.conspicuouslyAbsentCitedText \| null
fields.titleAccuracyCitedText \| null
fields.messagingVsSubstantiveCitedText \| null
sourcesobject[]
sources[].fieldstring
sources[].urlstring
sources[].titlestring \| null
sources[].quotestring
faqobject[]	The bill page's questions that need reading to answer, as readers see them, for the stage the bill is at now.
faq[].slugstring
faq[].questionstring
faq[].answerstring