WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate was poised to vote today, July 26, on the most comprehensive legislation dealing with the mortgage crisis to date — a bill that would allow thousands of homeowners to replace their old mortgages with new fixed-rate loans, provide a tax break for first-time homeowners and give money to communities to tear down abandoned, foreclosed upon homes.

An 80-13 test vote on Friday showed broad support for the election-year package and put it on track for Senate approval. The White House says President Bush will sign it.

Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both said they planned to support the bill.

"Look, this housing bill should've been passed eight months ago," Voinovich said. "I'm really upset. It's almost like Nero fiddling while Rome was burning."

The only previous bill dealing with the crisis to become law was a Voinovich measure preventing the IRS from taxing homeowners who had all or part of their loan forgiven because they faced foreclosure.

Voinovich predicted the bill would "open up a flood of money" to allow bad mortgages to be renegotiated and provide vital Community Development Block Grant money to tear down blighted, foreclosed homes.

"The tragedy of it is that there are many people that could've been helped," he said.

Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and David Hobson, R-Springfield, supported the bill in the House, where it passed 272-152 on Wednesday. Reps. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, John Boehner, R-West Chester, and Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, opposed it.

"What's so important about this bill is it doesn't just say, 'what do we do to try to keep people in their homes,' " Turner said. "It's 'what can we do to assist communities that now have an inordinate number of abandoned homes?' "

Jim McCarthy of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, however, said the bill would not "be a panacea," but would undoubtedly help.

The bill contains no new money, he said, for centers like his that do proactive litigation for people who've been victimized by unscrupulous lenders. "I like the bill. We need it, but it's still not getting at the issue that a lot of people who made money are not being held accountable."

The bill does, however, include money for counseling programs for homeowners overwhelmed by debt.

Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin said the city would use the block grants to tear down blighted properties.

A recent survey found that city has more than 3,800 vacant structures that would cost $25 million to tear down. It has more than 800 "nuisance" structures which would cost $6 million to tear down. The bill will help them do that.