With Washington paralyzed by a government shutdown, lawmakers in the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a sprawling, bipartisan housing bill aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock and bringing down costs.

The legislation, crafted by U.S. Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee, was tucked into the $924.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act.

The legislation, an annual funding bill for the Pentagon, passed on a 70-20 vote, according to The Hill . The vote came after lawmakers reached a deal to move the stalled funding bill, the online news outlet reported.

The housing bill, a rare instance of bipartisan cooperation on an increasingly gridlocked Capitol Hill, cleared the Banking Committee in July .

In a stat

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