The Senate is expected to consider a $78 billion tax bill that includes measures to expand the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program Thursday.

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Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) filed cloture to bring the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act to the floor for debate, setting up the bill for a potential vote later.

“It’s time to get this bill done right away,” Schumer said. “This bipartisan bill passed the House overwhelmingly, 357-70, and we hope this week Senate Republicans will join us. Democrats strongly support moving forward on this bill because it is filled with good news for our kids and small businesses and jobs and housing.”

In his comments, he noted that the bill would significantly expand the housing tax credit program.

“The LIHTC is one of the most effective tools for increasing the supply of affordable housing units,” Schumer said. “I was insistent that this measure go into the bill, and I said it was nonnegotiable. Well, I am glad it’s in this bill.”

The tax package includes two important measures from the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act—the restoration of a 12.5% allocation increase to the LIHTC program that expired at the end of 2021 and a reduction from 50% to 30% of the amount of private-activity bond financing required to access the 4% housing credit.

While it passed in the House, it is expected to have a harder time in the Senate. Affordable housing advocates are urging people to contact their senators to support the bill this week.

At the same time, they continue to look at other paths for the bill.

“We are very appreciative of the work the affordable housing community and our champions, Sens. [Maria] Cantwell, [Todd] Young, [Ron] Wyden, and [Marsha] Blackburn did to gain such broad bipartisan support for the LIHTC provisions in the tax bill,” said David Gasson, a partner at MG Housing Strategies. “If the bill does not pass the Senate, it is not due to the affordable housing provisions but instead the timing of the vote and the politics that will prevent the passage of across-the-board good tax policy that would benefit housing, business, victims of disasters, and economic development. We hope the message sent by the House, when they overwhelmingly passed the tax bill, will resonate into the next Congress as we work to address the housing crisis.”