(from Memo to Members from the National Low Income Housing Coalition) After another week of "slimming" and trimming H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, the Senate leadership still had not garnered the 60 votes needed to pass the bill by week's end. After reducing the cost of the overall bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called for a cloture vote on Thursday, June 17. The vote failed 56-40. As business closed on Friday, the Senate passed a short-term fix to prevent cuts to Medicare payments to doctors as a stand-alone bill. But without action on the whole bill, some unemployment benefits will end in the coming week.
The good news is that the $1.065 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund remained after the second round of cuts: the extension of TCEP, the tax credit exchange program, and the extension of the placed-in-service date for the LIHTCs allocated for Gulf Coast housing recovery after Hurricane Katrina.
Two other housing provisions were added in the iteration of the bill presented on June 17. An amendment by Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) made LIHTCs allocated for disaster recovery in the Gulf Coast and the Midwestern floods eligible for TCEP. Treasury had ruled that the statute that created TCEP did not cover disaster allocations. This is a change long-sought by Gulf Coast housing advocates.
The June 17 substitute amendment also extended the deadline for homebuyers who are eligible for the first-time homebuyer $8,000 tax credit to close on their houses. Homebuyers who had contracts as of April 30, 2010, would have until October 1, instead of July 1, to close.
In order to get to the 60 votes needed, Senate leaders will have to accommodate one Democratic Senator, Ben Nelson (NE), one Independent Senator, Joseph Lieberman (CT), and/or moderate Republicans. The Republicans mentioned in the press most often are Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Scott Brown (MA), and George Voinovich (OH).
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is said to be reworking the bill yet another time. It is expected that the Senate will take up the bill sometime the week of June 21, although one report is that it may be put off until after the Fourth of July recess.
