Is this a housing a bill or just a bill loaded with pork?

Clark Howard talked more about the housing bill today. It’s got all kinds of pork buried in it. One provision in the bill even has a subsidy for railcars. Railcars? What the hell does that have to do with housing? People, this is our politicians at work, just trying to serve their own interests while destroying the country.

Railcar subsidy: A tiny provision buried in the bill adds Colbert County in northern Alabama to the Gulf Opportunity Zone, a region that gets federal benefits to help with hurricane recovery.

The provision will let National Steel Car of Canada get hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt financing for a plant it is already building in the county, which is almost 300 miles from the coast and far from the ravaged areas.

Legislators in Oregon, home to U.S. railcar manufacturers, objected to the provision, saying it provides an unfair subsidy to a foreign competitor. But Alabama legislators, who had promised the Canadian company it could get state or local financing if the federal subsidy fell through, got it included in the bill.

Here are some more key provisions, most of which become effective in October:

• Reverse mortgages will now have a 2% maximum on fees (1% for mortgages above $200,000) — with a cap at $6,000. This is good news for “house rich, cash poor” seniors contemplating a reverse mortgage. It should reduce the number of people getting ripped off with huge fees.

• Interest rate rescue for those in jumbo loans is on the way. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be allowed to buy loans up to 115% of the local median home price. That means access to lower interest rates for those in loans above $417,000.

• There will be new protection for active military and veterans against foreclosures. Lenders will be required to wait 9 months — instead of 90 days — before beginning proceedings. Plus, there are new rules on interest rate adjustment. For too long, banks had unwittingly violated laws on interest rates for military. Visit Military.com to learn your rights.

• Vacation homes will be the subject of new scrutiny. No more loopholes about avoiding capital-gains taxes by living in a vacation or rental property as a primary residence for 2 years before selling it. Now you may owe tax on a portion of the gain, based on the years you didn’t live there full-time.

Read the full story on the other subsidies in the bill.

Visit www.clarkhoward.com

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