Trump poised to declare new national emergency ahead of midterm elections: report

President Donald Trump is considering declaring a new national emergency later this year to bolster the Republican Party’s prospects in the 2026 midterm elections, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed on Monday.

“We’re trying to figure out what we can do, and we don’t want to step into the business of states, counties, and municipal governments,” Bessent told the Washington Examiner Monday in an exclusive interview. “I think everything is on the table.”

That national emergency currently being weighed by Trump would be to address the ongoing housing crisis, which has seen the demand for homes far outweigh the supply, a problem exacerbated by soaring home costs that have significantly outpaced wages.

“We may declare a national housing emergency in the fall,” Bessent said.

The housing crisis has led to younger Americans putting off home ownership far beyond than past generations, with there being more home buyers in 2024 over the age of 70 than under 35, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

Trump has made a number of moves since the passage of his key domestic policy agenda item, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which with its significant cuts to federal food assistance and Medicaid has been met with net-negative favorability from Americans. The president has since moved to rebrand the bill, and made several moves to bolster his party’s chances in the upcoming midterm elections.

Addressing the housing crisis, in whatever form that may take, seems to be among Trump’s next big bets, according to Bessent, who optimistically predicted that the United States would “see a big economic pickup in 2026.”

While the housing crisis has worsened in recent years, its origins can be traced all the way back to the mid-1970s, where the median cost of a home was $32,664, which comes out to just over $199,000 in 2025 dollars when adjusted for inflation. With the median household income in 1975 being $13,720, or $83,655 in today’s dollars, a home then typically cost just over twice that of a typical household income.

Today, however, the median household income in the United States is estimated to be around $79,000, and the median home price, just over $443,000, making the typical home cost well over five times the typical household income.