Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) took the floor a few moments ago to say that he, Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) and Senator’s Dodd (D-CT) and Shelby (R-AL) have reached “an agreement in principle” on a bipartisan Housing Bill. Senator Dodd and Senator Shelby are now furiously working on a legislative draft outline of the bill.
The Majority Leader said that at least the draft outline should be completed by around 4 p.m. central time today. As far as the actual bill goes, it will be offered as a substitute amendment to H.R. 3221. A substitute amendment simply means that, if passed, the original text of the House bill would be replaced with the text of the Senate’s bill. As we reported yesterday, the Senate’s bill must be inserted into a House bill because of changes in tax provisions.
So, for the moment, it appears that debate will be allowed to begin late this afternoon on the newly crafted (and for now, still bipartisan) Housing Bill. As Politico’s The Crypt notes, the Senate is likely to undertake a long and tedious amendment process before a final vote on the bill is taken.
