Action on budget reconciliation shifts to the Senate this week, where the Finance Committee will assume center stage as it marks up health and tax provisions of the budget package.
With the House Ways and Means Committee having completed its work on the tax bill, the Finance panel Thursday is scheduled to mark up its version of the $85 billion, five-year net tax cut measure, with Finance Chairman Roth's mark expected to be released Tuesday.
The Finance Committee Tuesday will begin marking up the spending part of its reconciliation bill, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare. These issues enjoyed a relatively smooth journey through the House Ways and Means Committee last week. But sparks flew when the Commerce Committee took its turn reviewing the provisions, perhaps foreshadowing a struggle in Senate Finance over new Medicare formulas, health care for children and other divisive issues.
In other budget-related action, the House Budget Committee may meet as early as Wednesday to put together budget reconciliation plans from the various authorizing committees. The panel has no authority to change the plans, but simply reviews them to make certain that the committees' plans include all of the entitlement savings called for in the budget resolution, and then sends a unified bill to the floor.
The Senate Budget Committee has not yet scheduled its reconciliation meeting.
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to meet Wednesday to approve its spending allocations to the 13 subcommittees, which were unveiled Friday. The Labor-HHS, Transportation and National Security appropriations subcommittees received boosts this year in their so-called 602(b) allocations, while the Military Construction panel took the biggest hit, being targeted for a $612 million cut in funding from FY97 levels.
The Military Construction, Interior and Treasury-Postal appropriations subcommittees may mark up their spending bills this week.
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