Revision of on The Hill from July 14, 2008 - 11:59am
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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. Now the big question is how much further Congress go to keep Frannie and Freddie chugging. The Treasury is asking lawmakers to let it extend up to $300 billion in loans to - and possibly directly invest in - the two mortgage-backers. Signs are that Congress will comply in the next couple of weeks.
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see more on the housing crisis and DC's response
- see the bill, HR 3221
- see the latest on Fannie and Freddie from the Washington Post and NY Times
Gas Gambits: With gas prices still putting the squeeze on its constituents, Congress continues this week to keep - or at least look - busy on the energy front. Republicans are pushing a bill that would open up offshore drilling, a nonstarter with Dems, while House leaders will take a second shot at passing a "use it or lose it" bill that would nudge oil companies to drill on leases they're already sitting on. With more bipartisan goodwill, 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.
