Green Bay Press Gazette

- Monday, October 12, 2009

House passes Kagen-Kind bill to help veterans buy houses

First-time homebuyer tax credit would be extended for overseas military members

By LARRY BIVINS " Press-Gazette Washington Bureau lbivins@greenbaypressgazette.com " October 12, 2009


WASHINGTON  Jerry Kavanaugh says he doesn't hesitate to call his representatives in Congress about whatever's on his mind, but he rarely expects much of a response.

So the Kaukauna street and parks department worker was surprised to learn that a call he made in April to U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen has been answered with House passage of a bill that might help Kavanaugh's son, Dave, buy a home when he returns from Iraq.

The House on Thursday approved the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009 that includes a provision authored by Kagen, D-Appleton, and U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, to extend for a year the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers who are in the military overseas.

If approved by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, the measure means Dave Kavanaugh will be able to take advantage of the credit when he returns from Iraq in January, his father said. The elder Kavanaugh said his son married in April, about a week before shipping out.

As a member of the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Appleton, Dave Kavanaugh, 30, was part of the largest overseas deployment of Guardsmen  3,500 soldiers  since World War II.

Kagen said he was moved to co-author the tax credit after hearing from Jerry Kavanaugh.

Kind pointed out that the bill also would prevent service members from having to repay the tax credit if they are forced to sell their home within three years of purchase because of deployment.

Kavanaugh said he decided to seek help when he realized that the tax credit benefit would have expired before his son returned home in January.

"All I did was make a couple of phone calls to Congressman Kagen," Kavanaugh said. "I said, 'We've got to do something."'