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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nevada senator blocks housing rescue plan


Ensign
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Lori Montgomery Washington Post

WASHINGTON – A Republican senator from Nevada, home to the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, blocked an ambitious plan Wednesday to help troubled borrowers save their homes, saying he will not permit the measure to go forward unless the Senate adds tax breaks to encourage the production of renewable energy.

The demand by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., stalled a massive housing package with broad bipartisan support even as a report showed that new-home sales continued to tumble, underscoring the severity of the nation’s housing slump. It also threw the Senate into chaos days before Congress is scheduled to leave town for the July 4 holiday, prompting Senate leaders to threaten to keep lawmakers in Washington through the weekend.

Late Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate is unlikely to take a final vote on the housing bill until next month. But the Senate will eventually approve the measure, he said, adding: “We need to finish housing. … With 8,500 houses going into foreclosure every day, we have an obligation to the American people.”

Ensign said he would not back down from his demand to tack on more than $6 billion in tax breaks for producers of renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. The measure is popular with both parties – Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is a co-sponsor. But Senate Democrats oppose adding it to the housing bill because it is not accompanied by tax increases to make up for the lost revenue. Such an addition would ruin efforts to forge a compromise on the housing bill with the House.

Still, Ensign’s insistence puts Democrats in the uncomfortable position of opposing renewable energy, a concept many of them ardently support.

Ensign said the credits are critical to ending the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and are important for his home state, where renewable-energy investments are becoming a major economic-development tool and source of jobs.