By making a “reserve fund” Conrad essentially insulated the bill from this kind of attack.

A “reserve fund” was also used to bypass budget points of order questions about the controversial 2004 “Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug” bill, according to a April 2008 Congressional Research Service report. “The purpose of the reserve fund was to allow the applicable budget levels to be increased by up to $7 billion for FY2004 and $400 billion for FY2004-FY2013 to accommodate legislation involving a Medicare prescription drug program and related matters,” the report said of the 2004 bill.

In essence, by creating the reserve fund for Dodd’s housing bill, Conrad created a way to increase funding for the bill without question.

Conrad has admitted he has a conflict of interest in Countrywide and the housing bill and made a $10,500 donation to the charity Habitat for Humanity over the weekend—the amount his “Countrywide discount” was worth.

Still, most of the media’s attention has remained focused on Dodd, who received an amount of $75,000 worth of discounts over the life of his two Countrywide mortgages on his Washington and Connecticut homes. He contends he did not receive any preferential treatment although Portfolio’s report suggests otherwise.