WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate Thursday passed a bill offering billions of dollars in tax breaks and grants for home builders and buyers of foreclosed properties, in a first bid to tackle a housing crisis rattling the US economy.
The measure however must be reconciled with a House of Representatives version, from which it is expected to differ significantly, and critics say it fails to help people who have lost homes during the mortgage crisis.
Despite many reservations, Senators voted 84-12 to back the legislation.
Before the vote, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said the bill was "not perfect" and was not a "magic bullet" that will solve the housing crisis, which many experts fear could help tip the US economy into a recession.
Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd the primary sponsor of the legislation, said the Senate had passed a "good bill" which was "a good beginning."
But he added that the measure, dubbed the Foreclosure Prevention Act, "doesn't quite live up to the title," saying more sweeping efforts to solve the housing crisis couldn't overcome opposition in the Senate.
Critics of the bill said that it was weighted too far towards business interests, and did not do much to help borrowers worst affected by the housing crisis.
The three Senators running for president John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who have all laid out personal plans for tackling the foreclosure crisis were out campaigning, and did not vote.
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