Nov 5, 2009 5:15 pm US/Central
W.H.: Obama Will Extend Homebuyer's Tax Credit
Lawmakers Victorious In Extending Unemployment Benefits, Tax Credit For First-Time Homebuyers
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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President Barack Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 as members of the US Congress look on Oct. 28, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (File)
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The White House says President Barack Obama on Friday morning will sign a bill that expands a popular homebuyers tax credit and extends unemployment benefits.
Congress on Thursday completed work on the $24 billion economic package that seeks to help out the millions who have lost jobs and have been unable to rejoin the workforce. The White House announced Obama's intention to sign the bill shortly after Congress finished the legislation.
Under the measure, an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers would be extended for seven months and expanded with a $6,500 credit for some prospective homebuyers who already own homes.
With an overwhelming House vote, Congress has completed work on the economic package that seeks both to propel a sluggish economic recovery and help out the millions who have lost jobs and have been unable to rejoin the workforce.
The nearly 2 million people who have lost or are in danger of exhausting unemployment benefits before the end of the year would receive up to 20 weeks in additional benefits.
The bill, with a price tag of some $24 billion, would provide every American running out of unemployment insurance benefits this year with an additional 14 weeks. The out-of-work in states with jobless rates at 8.5 percent or greater would get six weeks on top of that.
It would also extend for seven months an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was enacted as part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed last February and is set to expire at the end of this month. The program would be expanded with a $6,500 credit for homebuyers who have lived in their current residences for five years.
Finally, it would allow businesses that have incurred losses in 2008 and 2009 to seek refunds for taxes paid on profits over the past five years.
The package, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a leader on the unemployment issue, will "help nearly 2 million Americans who are still unable to find work, protect small businesses struggling in this challenging economic climate and stimulate economic activity to help create jobs and grow our economy."
The extension would be the fourth since June of last year and could result in giving an out-of-work person in one of the harder-hit states up to 99 weeks of benefits, well above the previous record of 65 during the 1970s.
Supporters argued that this help was necessary when 15 million unemployed are competing for about 3 million jobs and 7,000 people are exhausting their benefits every day.
"There is no place today in the United States that does not see a serious crisis in unemployment," said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, where the 13 percent unemployment rate exceeds the national rate of 9.8 percent.
The $2.4 billion cost of extending unemployment benefits is offset by extending through June 2011 the federal unemployment tax that employers pay for each employee.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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