Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT). chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said yesterday he plans to attach an amendment that would extend the $8,000 first-time homebuyer’s tax credit six months rather than 12 months sought by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA.) and the housing industry.

The credit is currently set to expire on December 1 – which is prompting higher home sales and raising concern throughout the housing industry about what will happen after the expiration.

Dodd said in an interview he is working on a measure that would extend the credit and make it available to all home buyers – not just first-time home buyers – but would impose income limits on who could qualify.

It’s not clear when the Senate will vote on extending jobless benefits for unemployed workers, but a spokesman for Harry Reid, who has publicly support extended the credit for six months- says the bill “remains a priority.”

Housing industry groups have lobbied hard for weeks to get the housing credit extension, arguing that pulling the tax credit now would spell disaster for a still-fragile housing market.