Richard A. Smith, CEO of Realogy Corporation and Chair of Business Roundtable’s Housing Working Group, commended the Senate for voting to extend and expand the federal homebuyer tax credit, a critical program has already enabled hundreds of thousands of Americans to become first-time homebuyers.

"We commend the Senate for voting to extend and expand the federal homebuyer tax
credit. This critical program has already enabled hundreds of thousands of
Americans to become first-time homebuyers. Encouraging additional home purchases
will create a cascade effect, not only boosting the housing sector, but also
creating jobs and hastening broad recovery of the U.S. economy - more than 20
percent of which is tied to residential real estate and housing-related
industries.

"We also commend the Senate for expanding the five-year net operating loss
`carryback` period for all companies. This is critical tax relief that will
allow companies to generate immediate cash by carrying back current-year losses
to profitable years. In light of the current credit crunch, access to cash is
critical to sustaining the current economy recovery. Companies will be able to
use this money to invest in new plants and equipment, sustain research and
development and maintain and create U.S. jobs.

"As we continue to work our way back toward sustained economic growth, it is
vital that we balance the need for economic stimulus with fiscal prudence. The
credit and NOL relief are timely, temporary and have already proven effective;
in short, this is exactly the sort of stimulus measure we need to focus on.

"In particular, we would like to thank Sens. Isakson, Reid, Cardin and Dodd for
their dedication to extending the homebuyer credit, and Sens. Reid, Baucus and
Snowe for their commitment to extending the NOL `carryback` period. We now urge
the House to follow the Senate`s lead in quickly passing this legislation and
putting our economy on a path of sustained recovery," said Richard A. Smith,
President and CEO of Realogy Corporation and Chair of Business Roundtable`s
Housing Working Group.

Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading
U.S. companies with nearly $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 12
million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value
of the U.S. stock markets and pay more than 60 percent of all corporate income
taxes paid to the federal government. Annually, they return more than $167
billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy.

Business Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined
charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate
giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with more than $111 billion in
annual research and development spending - nearly half of all total private R&D
spending in the U.S.