The Week of July 14

The Home Stretcher: As if it weren't enough voting to prop up $300 billion in defaulting mortgages - as Congress was planning on doing this week - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's tumble last Friday could double the scope of the hefty housing bill now hopping through Congress. House leaders were expected to sign off on the real estate rescue bill this week, covering refinanced mortgages for up to 400,000 homeowners caught up in risky loans. It also had plans to stiffen oversight of Fannie and Freddie, the two "quasi" governmental agencies that back almost half of the nation's mortgages but which - long before last week's fall - were thought to be on shaky ground. The bill could also include smaller measures - $14.5 billion in tax credits for new homeowners and the housing industry and $4 billion for communities to turn around defaulted homes - but the biggest question is how far Congress will now go to keep Frannie and Freddie chugging. The Treasury is asking lawmakers to give it the go ahead to temporarily extend up to $300 billion in loans to the two mortgage-backers and also, if need be, directly invest. In the meanwhile, the Fed is letting the two agencies swap some of its bad debt to keep up confidence.

• see more on the housing collapse and DC's response
• see the bill, HR 3221

Gas Gambits: With gas prices still putting the squeeze on constituents, Congress continues this week to look busy on the energy front. Republicans are pushing a bill that would open up offshore drilling, a nonstarter with Dems, while the House leader will take a second shot at passing a "use it or lose it" bill that would nudge oil companies to drill on leases they already have but which failed to pass last week. With more bipartisan support, the Senate may vote to give federal regulators a rein on energy speculators, who are thought by some economists to be inflating the price of oil.

• see more on energy legislation in Congress this year and on the gas price debate

With less fanfare, the House also plans to okay an intelligence authorization bill, HR 5959, and a $1 billion bridge infrastructure bill, HR 3999, while the Senate may vote to approve $50 billion in spending over the next five years to combat AIDS, TB and malaria around the world, S 2731.