CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
June 24, 2008 – 9:56 p.m.
Senate Nears Final Agreement on Comprehensive Housing Package
By Benton Ives, CQ Staff
Senate lawmakers moved closer to passing comprehensive housing legislation Tuesday, but hammering out a final agreement on remaining amendments and last-minute tinkering could slow the measure’s progress before the Fourth of July recess.
The measure (
The Senate invoked cloture, 83-9, on its substitute for a massive House-passed package. Both measures include a plan aimed at helping struggling homeowners refinance loans they can’t afford, along with a regulatory overhaul of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
An amendment that would extend several expiring renewable-energy tax breaks could stall final consideration. Sen. John Ensign , R-Nev., who is cosponsoring the amendment with Maria Cantwell , D‑Wash., said he would use his “full rights” to try to attach the energy amendment.
“If they want to finish the bill, they have several days left. As soon as they give me my amendment, I’m done,” Ensign said.
Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said that Banking Chairman Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., and the other bill manager, Richard C. Shelby , R‑Ala., would try to work out an agreement on amendments to expedite action.
Reid warned Tuesday evening that if an agreement can’t be reached, the Senate could have to deal with several more cloture motions on pieces of the housing package, possibly pushing final consideration into the coming weekend.
“If people dig in their heels and say we’re not going to do that, we might be in a situation where we don’t finish the housing legislation,” Reid said. “That would be a shame. But that’s certainly possible, because there is the potential of still having a number of other cloture votes on the housing legislation.”
Dodd said Reid has made clear that the only amendments that will be allowed are “housing-related” provisions.
Time is running short; the Senate leaves at week’s end for its recess.
The pending legislation includes the most significant congressional response yet to the ongoing housing crisis. It includes a $300 billion expansion of the Federal Housing Administration’s insurance programs to back refinanced loans for struggling borrowers.
It also includes a modernization of the FHA, the regulatory overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a $14.5 billion package of housing-focused tax breaks.
Wide-Ranging Amendments
Senate Nears Final Agreement on Comprehensive Housing Package
The Ensign-Cantwell amendment has seen action before on a housing measure. The Senate had voted, 88-8, to add the energy tax provisions when it voted on an earlier version of the legislation on April 10.
But the House dropped the provisions before moving its latest version of the package on May 8.
Sen. Bernard Sanders , I-Vt., said he wanted the Senate to vote on another energy-related amendment that would provide more money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
And a bipartisan group of senators filed an amendment designed to give tax relief to Midwestern areas hard hit by recent flooding and tornadoes.
The proposal would allow disaster victims to withdraw money from retirement plans without tax penalties, suspend limits on tax incentives for charitable contributions and create tax-exempt bond authority to help rebuild infrastructure, among other provisions.
Members of the Ethics Committee also got into the action, unveiling a plan for more stringent disclosure requirements for senators’ mortgages that they hope to offer as an amendment. The proposal is a reaction to recent charges that Countrywide Financial gave favorable mortgage deals to Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad , D-N.D.
Both have said they were unaware they received special interest rates and loan terms because they are senators.
Placating the White House
The Senate is also expected to take up an amendment that would strike $3.9 billion in community block grants for the purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed properties. The White House strongly opposes that provision, arguing that it amounts to a bailout for lenders.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank , D-Mass., has said he’s open to dropping the grants, particularly if that speeds the package’s progress.
While Dodd hoped to pass a measure in the Senate that the House could take up and clear for the president’s signature, House lawmakers are still expected to make some changes to the measure.
House tax writers are expected to add an additional $2.4 billion in offsets to fully pay for the housing tax breaks in the package. And a House Democratic aide said the chamber was likely to strike a provision in the Senate measure that would prevent taxpayers from taking an additional standard deduction on state and local property taxes if the locality raises its property tax rate.
Frank would also like to see changes in the new regulator’s powers to limit Fannie’s and Freddie’s mortgage portfolios, which he fears might hinder their ability to buy more expensive mortgages.
Senate Nears Final Agreement on Comprehensive Housing Package
Given those expected House changes, the package is unlikely to be completed before the coming recess.
Greg Vadala contributed to this story.
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