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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday he expected the lower chamber to back a Senate plan to extend and expand an $8,000 housing tax credit due to expire at the end of this month, which is aimed at jumpstarting the struggling housing market.
"I would prefer that they had not done the changes that they affected, but they did and I think that they'll be acceptable and I was pleased that April 30th is their date for eliminating this program," Hoyer told reporters on Capitol Hill.
The Senate is considering extending popular housing amendment as part of a larger piece of legislation aimed at extending insurance benefits for jobless workers.
The House of Representatives, which have to approve the measure before sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature, is expected to take up the measure next week.
Some House Democrats, including Hoyer, had expressed concern about the cost of expanding the $8,000 tax credit, which now applies only to first-time homebuyers and is set to expire at the end of this month.
Under the new language, homeowners who have lived in their home for five of the past eight years would be eligible to receive the $8,000 tax credit. That's intended to boost the so-called step-up home market.
The tax credit would run for homes under contract by the end of April, though buyers would have until the end of June to close on the purchase.
(Reporting by Donna Smith and Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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