WASHINGTON — Congress is one vote away from passing legislation that continues aid to more than a million jobless people and extends tax breaks to hundreds of thousands of prospective homebuyers and struggling businesses.
The legislation passed the Senate on Wednesday on a 98-0 vote and could come up in the House as early as today, sending it to President Obama for his signature.
The bill, with a price tag of some $24 billion, would provide every American running out of unemployment insurance benefits this year with an additional 14 weeks. Those in states with jobless rates at 8.5 percent or greater would get six weeks on top of that.
It would also extend for seven months an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was enacted as part of the $787 billion stimulus package and is set to expire at the end of this month. The new bill also includes a $6,500 credit for homebuyers who have lived in their homes for five years.
Finally, it would allow businesses that have incurred losses in 2008 and 2009 to seek refunds for taxes paid on profits over the past five years.
The extension would be the fourth since June of last year and could result in giving an out-of-work person in one of the harder-hit states up to 99 weeks of benefits, well above the previous record of 65 during the 1970s.
