In Congress, Lazio served as Deputy Majority Whip, Assistant Majority Leader, and Chairman of the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. He was "widely viewed as the most influential moderate in a leadership dominated by conservatives." From his earliest days in Congress, Lazio made housing one of his primary issues. As leader of the housing subcommittee, he drafted the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, the most significant piece of housing reform legislation in 60 years. When President Clinton signed it into law, he said that it "made landmark housing reform a reality." Lazio's legislative accomplishments in the housing area also included the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA). Enacted into law in 1996, NAHASDA provides housing assistance to Native American communities. It also created a new HUD division, which combined several pre-existing programs into a single block grant program committed to the task of tribal housing.