Not to get too technical, but the EGTRRA had a sunset provision and the section to which you are referring was only applicable for the 2010 tax year (the "carry-over basis tax year").
The reason for the aforementioned was that the estate tax was basically repealed for that year and, along with it, the stepped-up basis (no estate tax means the decedent's property is not included in the estate for federal income tax purposes which, in turn, means Section 1014 does not apply - a decedent's property must be included in the decedent's gross estate in order to get a step up in basis). The offset for this was the allowance of the home sale exclusion for estates.
