The bill, passed by 72 votes to 13 during a rare weekend session in the Senate, now will go to President George W. Bush, who is expected to sign the measure quickly.

The bill won approval in the House on Wednesday by 272 votes to152.

Under a provision put into the bill, Fannie and Freddie could draw on a temporary line of U.S. Treasury credit or the government could buy shares in them if necessary. The bill also contains a tax break of as much as 7,500 dollars for first-time home buyers, creates a new regulator to oversee Fannie and Freddie.

It will also establish a 300-billion dollar fund under the Federal Housing Administration to help distressed homeowners get more affordable, government-backed mortgages. An estimated 400,000families could be helped by the program.

Both presidential hopeful Barack Obama and John McCain hailed the Senate's passage of the housing bill.

The bill was "urgently needed" and represented "an important start to protecting homeowners and restoring stability to our housing market and our economy," Obama said in a statement.

McCain said he believes that relief for struggling homeowners is overdue, noting he applauds the passage of this legislation and urges the president to sign it quickly.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson praised the approval.

"It is of the utmost importance to our market and economic stability that the GSE (government-sponsored enterprise) portions of this bill become law," he said. "These components are orders of magnitude more important to turning the corner on the housing correction."