The Week of July 21

The Home Stretcher: Reworking a massive homeowner rescue bill to include emergency lifelines for faltering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac turned out to be too much for Congress to pull off in one week - but hopes are that two weeks will do the trick. Congress had been working on a real estate booster for months to cover refinanced mortgages for up to 400,000 homeowners sinking under risky loans - at the same time as planning 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 their recent tumble - were thought to be on shaky ground. Now the bill will add on provisions to hopefully keep financial faith Frannie and Freddie, by giving the US Treasury the okay to extend unlimited loans to - and possibly investments in - the two giant mortgage-backers. The open bail-out check unnerves some lawmakers, who may try to limit the potential burden to tax payers when the bill goes up for a vote.

• get the background on the housing crisis and DC's response - and on Freddie & Fannie
• see the latest on Fannie and Freddie from the Washington Post and NY Times
• see the bill, HR 3221

It's a Gas: In an ongoing effort to feel the pain of the American driver, the House and Senate continue to juggle measures designed to whittle down gas prices, but which experts generally agree with make little - if any - dent on the cost of filling up. This week senators will try to accomplish what the House failed at twice - passing a "use it or lose it" bill that would nudge oil companies to drill on leases they're already sitting on. Republicans may try to tag on a bill to open up offshore drilling, normally a nonstarter with Dems, but which is now a policy gaining popularity. House leaders, meanwhile, could vote to siphon off some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Finally both chambers 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

The House may get around to a $1 billion bridge infrastructure bill, HR 3999, which was on its roste last week while it also takes up a $50 billion in spending over the next five years to combat AIDS, TB and malaria around the world, HR 5501, passed in the Senate last week.