Here’s how AG Paxton is protecting Texas from Biden/Harris rent control agenda | Opinion

The Biden-Harris administration recently asked my longtime friend, Attorney General Ken Paxton, to embrace a federal attempt to impose rent control in our state, which would have effectively stripped Texas of its 10th Amendment right to self-govern its own housing industry. Fortunately for our sake, Paxton declined and metaphorically showed them the door.

In short, President Joe Biden and Vice Kamala President Harris — desperate to deflect political blame for the high cost of everything in America today — have argued that the rising cost of housing is the fault of landlords, not mismanagement of the economy and housing supplies. And they have been pushing Congress to cap rent costs in all 50 states.

Texas banned rent control years ago after Democrats and Republicans alike warned that it sharply reduces housing supply, which ultimately increases rent costs and homelessness while reducing housing quality.

However, unwilling to take “no” for an answer, the Biden-Harris administration now wants Congress to go over our statehouse’s head by approving a federal ban.

Even the administration’s favorite members of Congress are hesitant to propose legislation along the lines of what the White House is looking for because they know just how destructive rent control ends up being for everyone, especially the low-income Americans that the policy is supposed to help.

So, the Biden-Harris administration is now instead having Attorney General Merrick Garland attempt to impose this price control through the backdoor. His Department of Justice recently sued a Texas company that makes landlord pricing software. A court victory would achieve the same objective as a federal rent control bill.

Time will tell whether Garland’s suit passes court muster, but sharp criticism of it from economic and legal experts (not to mention advocacy groups and think tanks such as Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation) certainly casts skepticism on its viability, as does the underwhelming amount of support it has received from state attorneys general.

Paxton refused to sign onto the lawsuit because he knew full well that it is nothing more than a politically motivated attempt to give Harris economic cover on the campaign trail. As such, he refused to allow the state of Texas to assist the administration in imposing this backdoor rent control attempt, which goes against what our state laws currently permit.

The Biden Justice Department surely pressured Paxton to join the effort. After all, the feds have worked extensively with him on other issues, such as holding Big Tech giants accountable, so they might have assumed that Paxton would have something to lose by not playing ball. But Paxton doesn’t play politics with lawsuits. He adheres firmly to his principles and backs only sound efforts that would benefit the Lone Star State his.

Of course, as a staunch conservative, Paxton knows that the answer to Texas’ housing crisis is less government, not more.

While the Biden-Harris administration slowing down the government’s monetary printing press would represent the most effective way of getting prices down across the board, Texas knows this will never happen and has found other creative ways to do so on its own.

Take, for example, my home city of Austin, where we have been increasing the housing supply to no end because we understand that more supply decreases demand. Our construction efforts have dropped prices by 12.6% — the largest decline in the United States. It has even reached the point where Austin builders have pulled back on permitting requests for fear of a glut of available housing.

The lesson here is that we don’t need to give the Biden-Harris administration more power, and we surely don’t need to give them a cheap campaign talking point by moving a rent control scheme forward. All we need to do is govern as fiscal conservatives and things will inevitably fall into place.

Hats off to Paxton for recognizing this reality and doing everything in his power to keep our states’ rights and affordable housing revolution intact. It won’t soon be forgotten.

Matt Mackowiak is chairman of the Travis County GOP and co-founder of Save Austin Now, a nonpartisan citizen’s group dedicated to preserving Austin’s quality of life. Follow him on X: @MattMackowiak.

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