Timely News on the Stimulus Plan and the Housing Market

Check out two recent articles on Obama's stimulus plan:

1. Grassley will support stimulus if mortgage amendment is included

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said Wednesday that he will vote for President Barack Obama’s $900-billion economic stimulus bill if an amendment providing low-interest mortgages is added.

“We have an alternative of 4 percent mortgages for 30 years, fixed,” Grassley said, adding: “If this is adopted, I will vote for it, regardless of what else is in the bill.”

Grassley has said the bill is too loaded down with long-term, wish-list spending. However, an emphasis on housing, like the 4 percent mortgage rate plan, would sway his vote.

Iowa’s senior senator has been targeted, along with handful of other Republican senators, by an ad campaign by a group of progressive and labor organizations asking voters to contact him to urge him to support the Obama plan.

The bill passed the U.S. House last week without a single Republican vote. It is currently being debated in the U.S. Senate.

“People at the grassroots see it as a lot of spending and not very much stimulus,” Grassley said. “Somebody thinks they’re fooling the people of this country with this package, but they aren’t.”

*Article by Jason Hancock 2/4/09 of The Iowa Independent

2. Senate approves $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Wednesday night to give a tax break of up to $15,000 to homebuyers in hopes of revitalizing the housing industry, a victory for Republicans eager to leave their mark on a mammoth economic stimulus bill at the heart of President Barack Obama's recovery plan.

The tax break was approved without dissent and came on a day in which Obama pushed back pointedly against Republican critics of the legislation even as he reached across party lines to consider a reduction in the spending it contains.

"Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential," Obama said as Senate Republicans stepped up their criticism of the bill's spending and pressed for additional tax cuts and relief for homeowners. He warned that failure to act quickly "will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession."

Democratic leaders have pledged to have legislation ready for Obama's signature by the end of next week.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who advanced the homebuyers tax break, said it was intended to help revive the housing industry, which has virtually collapsed in the wake of a credit crisis that began last fall.

The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. Current law provides for a $7,500 tax break but only for first-time homebuyers.

Isakson's office said the proposal would cost the government an estimated $19 billion.

Democrats readily agreed to the proposal, although it may be changed or even deleted as the stimulus measure makes its way through Congress over the next 10 days or so.

*Article by DAVID ESPO, Associated Press Writer