WASHINGTON — House Democrats, opposed to the Senate’s focus on helping homebuilders, moved Tuesday to reshape housing legislation to help more homeowners.
“We need to provide relief to the buyers and families themselves, not just the banks and builders,” Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said in a statement. House Democrats intend to put “families first,” he said.
Today, Rangel’s Ways and Means Committee will vote on his legislation to provide tax breaks to homeowners, first-time homebuyers and developers of low-income housing.
In contrast to the Senate, Rangel will not offer about $25 billion in tax breaks to homebuilders and bankers.
Also today, House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., will hold a hearing on his bill to provide $300 billion for federal guarantees of mortgages for troubled borrowers if lenders make them more affordable.
Rangel said he designed his bill to “complement” Frank’s legislation.
Rangel’s bill was introduced even as more bad sales news was released by the National Association of Realtors. The group said its index of pending home resales dropped to 84.6 in February from the previous month’s revised 86.2.
