Restoring the strength of the U.S. housing market is at the top of President Barack Obama’s priorities as it is for many members of Congress these days.

In his weekend address, President Obama revealed the possibility of a revised and expanded bailout program for the financial sector. “Soon my Treasury [Department] secretary, Tim Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families,” he said in remarks.“We’ll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs. We’ll ensure that CEOs are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery. And we will insist on unprecedented transparency, rigorous oversight, and clear accountability — so taxpayers know how their money is being spent and whether it is achieving results.”

The House of Representatives passed its own version of a bailout/stimulus package last week that includes tax cuts and new government programs. The President asked the Senate in his weekend speech to quickly pass the House’s bill, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in order to speed up the return of economic stability.

Some in the Senate from both parties are pushing, however, for several amendments to the bill before it is passed. Republican Senator Mitch McConnel from Kentucky, for example, wants to see a provision that would make mortgage loans available to good credit home buyers at a 4 percent interest rate, with the government possibly making up the difference between the lower rate and the market rate.

Democrat and Republican senators have called for an extension of the first-time home buyer credit to include all primary residence purchases as well as stretching out the credit amount from $7,500 to $15,000. And Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., would like to the bill to include a90-day moratorium on all foreclosures nationwide.

President Obama was cautious in his hopes for the immediate success of the stimulus bill, however, saying that the “economic recovery will take years — not months.”

“No one bill, no matter how comprehensive, can cure what ails our economy,” he said. “So just as we jump-start job creation, we must also ensure that markets are stable, credit is flowing, and families can stay in their homes.”