Congress passes sweeping housing bill

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill late yesterday to provide $300 billion in funding to troubled homeowners and aid ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The legislation supporting the government-sponsored enterprises now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass by a narrow margin and could be signed into law by President Bush later this week, published reports said. The bill, called the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act, had faced a veto threat from President Bush because $3.9 billion was earmarked for neighborhoods hit hardest by foreclosures, but the White House dropped its opposition early yesterday. The House passage of the legislation came as the Congressional Budget Office released a report yesterday estimating that a temporary measure bolstering Washington-based Fannie Mae and McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion. “This could well be the most important legislation to impact housing, responsible credit and economic recovery that we have passed in the 16 years I have served in Congress,” Rep. Melvin L. Watt, D-N.C., the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman, said in a statement.