As he explores a White House run in 2028, Rahm Emanuel is proposing a program pairing help buying a first home with invigorating interest in national service.
The new initiative Emanuel is to roll out on Thursday, first shared with NBC News, would provide $25,000 for first-time homebuyers’ down payments if they have contributed two years of national service.
Emanuel — a former congressman, Chicago mayor, ambassador to Japan and White House chief of staff — said the program could be funded by fixing a specific part of a “rigged” tax system that allows taxpayers to claim a mortgage interest deduction on a second home. Under his initiative, taxpayers would be limited to claiming the interest deduction only on their primary residence.
“You should not be subsidizing people who have a second home,” Emanuel said in an interview. “We need people to start off on the American dream. Build a family. No more mortgage deductions for second homes, it goes to people for their primary home. And if you do two years of service, we’re going to give you the resources for a down payment.”
According to his estimates, limiting mortgage interest deductions to primary residences would save $108 billion over 10 years, with roughly 450,000 taxpayers claiming the mortgage interest deduction on a vacation home or investment home. Qualifying national service under the proposal would include time spent in AmeriCorps, conservation corps, public health, disaster relief and military service.
The proposal is just the latest in a series from Emanuel, who has churned out numerous initiatives since he first said he was mulling a White House run last year. In this case, the idea addresses economic anxieties among young people and highlights the growing disparity of wealth in America.
Emanuel pointed to polling showing that just 30% of young Americans believe they’ll be better off financially than their parents. Meanwhile, the average age of a first-time homeowner was 40 years old, an all-time high.
“The system is rigged,” Emanuel said. “You’re not paranoid, it’s rigged against ya!”
The new proposal comes on the same day that Emanuel and his wife, Amy, are honoring a cohort of students in ROTC programs with a scholarship they started and named after Admiral Lisa Franchetti.
Last year, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth fired Franchetti, who served as chief of naval operations from 2023 to 2025 and was the first woman to serve in that position. In his 2024 book, Hegseth called Franchetti a “DEI hire.” Emanuel said he worked with Franchetti while he served as ambassador in Japan, which has the largest overseas U.S. naval presence in the world.
“I worked with her extensively and when I saw what happened I was so offended, given her record,” Emanuel said. “Lisa was fired in a political purge … I’m not going to let Donald Trump and Hegseth be the last word.”