My favorite Dallas/Ft. Worth Realtor, Karen Anne, explains why the tax credit extension did not pass. I hope those reading this will call their legislators. Our hope at this point is that it will pass after the July 4th break and be made retroactive. This not passing hurts a lot of good people and as Rosemarie points out in her comments, PROHIBITS stimulating the economy in so many ways.
Lori is a residential Realtor with Chinowth & Cohen Realtors serving the greater Tulsa area, and specializing in midtown Tulsa real estate. Please visit Lori’s web site, LoriCain.com or call 918-852-5036.
If you, or one of your Realtor friends, have one of those $8,000 Federal Tax Credit sales in the pipeline, and are hoping that it closes by June 30th… ya better light several candles, and get out your rosary beads… NOW.
Right now, the program deadline for getting those sales closed and funded… is June 30th. If you are nursing along one of those sales… and if your buyer’s or seller’s loan needs more time… like into July, or even further… as I said… right now that extension bill… is dead.
The latest from the United States Senate shows that the bill failed to get enough votes in the Senate last night… and by a vote of 57 to 41… did NOT get the 60 votes it needed to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a final vote… which would have PASSED easily.
All 41 votes against the measure… were by Republicans. They were invoking the filibuster rule… which puts a roadblock in front of any bill they so choose to filibuster.
The Senate then can vote to “cut off” that “fillibuster”… which would allow the bill, as mentioned above, to come to the Senate floor for a pass/fail vote.
The vote to cut off debate… to cut off the Republican filibuster… was 57 votes to cut off debate and vote on the bill… and 41 votes to stop the bill… and NOT ALLOW a vote on it… which effectively kills the bill.
All that was needed… was for three of the Republican moderates… typically Senator Susan Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe… both of Maine, and Senator George Voinovich from Ohio… who is retiring from the Senate and will not run for re-election.
The homebuyers Tax Credits extension bill was attached to a Democratic-backed jobs bill and unemployment benefits bill. Again… all 41 Republicans voted against the bill… which effectively killed it.
Miracles may happen… but right now it looks bleak. Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (a Democrat from North Dakota) said that the bill may not be voted on again until after the July 4 recess… when Congress comes back into session on July 12.
Note: The vote in the Senate was FOR extending the Tax Credit Deadline for closings. The vote was 57 FOR and 41 AGAINST. But… in this case, because of the Republicans invoking the filibuster tactic, the bill needed to pass with 60 votes FOR it. So, it missed passing by three votes. If ONLY three Republicans had voted FOR it… instead of ZERO voting for it… it would have passed.
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If you’re looking for homes for sale in Midtown Tulsa, OK or just more information on Midtown Tulsa Real Estate, you can visit my primary website at www.loricain.com
