A Long Trip, Not Quite Over

The House Thursday passed a broad packaged designed to ease the foreclosure crisis and market crunch, and one provision passed with more than enough votes to squash the White House's threatened veto.

Too bad they have to deal with the Senate, where the bill's prospects are murkier.

After a day of delay tactics by GOP leaders and lots of complaints about the closed rule under which Democratic leaders brought the housing package, lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the housing bill.

The underlying bill, offered as a substitute amendment to an already-existing bill, passed by a vote of 266 to 154, with 39 Republicans supporting it. That effectively counted as passage of the bill.

A vote to add on a package of tax provisions passed with a veto proof majority, 322-94, with 95 Republicans supporting it. The White House veto threat, issued Wednesday, of the entire bill said the administration "strongly opposes" the tax piece, saying it "would do little to improve conditions in the housing market.

Um, apparently your party doesn't much agree, Mr. President.
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