June 28, 2010
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On June 24, the Senate defeated a procedural motion to advance a revised substitute amendment offered by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) to the House-passed tax extenders and jobs bill, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, H.R. 4213. This was the third unsuccessful attempt to move a substitute amendment since the Senate began consideration of the House-passed bill June 8.

Baucus’ third substitute amendment reduced spending further and made additional changes in previous versions’ revenue-raising provisions to win additional support, but it failed by a vote of 57 to 41; 60 votes were required. Republicans and Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) voted against advancing the substitute amendment because a portion of the bill remained unpaid for.

Like the previous two versions, the substitute amendment included a number of NCSHA-supported provisions, including:

  • A one-year extension, through 2010, of the Housing Credit Exchange program;
  • An expansion of the Exchange program to include disaster (GO Zone and Midwest flood) Credits;
  • A two-year extension, through 2012, of the placed-in-service date for properties financed with GO Zone Credits; and
  • $1 billion in funding for a one-time capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund and $65 million for project-based vouchers to states to support Trust-financed properties.


The Senate leadership has decided to suspend Senate consideration of the extenders bill indefinitely and move on to consideration of a small business lending bill, which includes tax incentives for small businesses. While a small business-oriented tax bill at one point seemed like an alternative vehicle for some of NCSHA’s Housing Bond and Credit priorities, it appears that tax-writers are narrowing its potential scope and cost substantially. NCSHA is continuing to investigate opportunities for enacting as many of our tax priorities as possible on this and other potential bills this year.