This vote was on an amendment by John Isakson, R-Ga.., that would extend through Sept. 30, 2010, the deadline for homebuyers to claim a first-time homebuyer tax credit.  The amendment would pay for the additional spending by using unspent money in a fund created by the economic stimulus law.  The amendment was offered to a bill that would extend several expired tax provisions, unemployment insurance benefits, Medicaid assistance to states, Medicaid doctor payment increases and other items.

The amendment was intended to ensure that homeowners whose new homes are under contract by the April 30 deadline, but which are not yet closed, can still take advantage of the new homeowners tax credit.  A similar amendment by Harry Reid, D-Nev., was approved earlier (see vote 191).  Unlike Isakson’s, Reid’s amendment would pay for the new spending by eliminating a corporate tax benefit.

Isakson said the amendment is necessary because “of the backlog of appraisals and the current FDIC regulation, a lot of people who qualified for the credit are not going to be able to close by the end of June, and they will lose the credit because we put a June 30 closing date as the deadline for closing the credit earned by the contract of April 30.”

“The difference in the two amendments is the pay-for. One is doing away with the deductibility of punitive damages, which is Senator Reid’s. The other is mine, which takes it from the unspent $50 billion in stimulus money. And the pay-for, by the way, in both cases, is not a lot of money in the scheme of things. It is a lot of money to me and you, but it is $140 million and not $50 billion,” Isakson said.

By a vote of 45-52, the amendment was rejected.  All but three Republicans present voted for the amendment.  Of Democrats present, eight voted for the amendment and 47 voted against it.  The end result is that the measure went forward without language that would have extended the deadline for taking advantage of a new homebuyer tax credit, paid for with unspent stimulus money.  (A similar amendment was approved previously, but was paid for in a different way – see vote 191).