As Republicans ponder how to handle remaining thorny appropriations bills, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Tuesday he expects as many as five bills, including the Interior, Labor-HHS and Foreign Operations bills, to be rolled into an omnibus bill that likely will include a tax cut measure.
Meanwhile, House Republicans may consider a continuing resolution this week to extend current funding until Oct. 9 in order to give appropriators enough time to complete their work, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., as it became clear that Republicans in both chambers are encountering trouble in passing the remaining fiscal 1999 funding measures.
Stevens said he was worried about being able to get the Interior bill off the Senate floor and left open the possibility that the Senate may not pass a Labor-HHS bill at all, and simply roll the programs into the omnibus bill. In the House, Republicans still lack the votes to bring the Labor-HHS bill to the floor and also expect problems with the Foreign Operations measure.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Tuesday he expects those two bills and the contentious issue of emergency spending to be among the last issues resolved. Asked what obstacles congressional leaders will face approaching the end of the fiscal year, Armey said, "They're pretty much the same that they've always been."
Also, in a potentially significant vote, the House Tuesday voted, 331-66, to instruct Agriculture appropriations conferees to designate $500 million in assistance as an emergency, a move that would mean the funds would not be offset by cuts.
While votes to instruct conferees normally are not considered key votes, a senior House Appropriations Committee aide said this vote puts "the boys and girls on the record" as going along with emergency spending.
Stevens said he still hopes that spending for disaster relief, the year 2000 computer problem, defense spending and problems abroad will be designated as emergencies.
He said that at the end of negotiations, spending on medical research the Senate wants and education spending President Clinton wants also may be designated as emergencies. "I think we have to find a way to solve these issues," he said.
But when asked about the possibility of designating education and medical research as emergencies, Livingston said, "The House and Senate have not met on individual issues." And House Republican moderates and conservatives have agreed to try to find offsetting cuts in order to avoid exceeding spending caps.
Stevens said he does not believe Clinton's political problems will increase Republican leverage during the last-minute negotiations. "He's got the lever that gives him the leverage and that's the veto pen," Stevens said.
In the House, GOP leaders still have not scheduled the Labor- HHS bill for floor action. "We have to get a rule that can pass," Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Edward Porter, R-Ill. said.
He said that it would be a "disaster" if the House decided not to try to pass a Labor-HHS bill, adding, "I think if we can get the rule, we can pass the bill. ... I think we have to move a bill."
One House Republican aide said the whip organization late Monday conducted a check on the Labor-HHS bill. "It couldn't have been good because nobody called me and told me to put it on the floor," the aide said.
Livingston made clear he believes passage of the Labor-HHS bill is out of his hands. "I'm anticipating that my Rules Committee and my whip team will get the votes," he said.
Asked when the difficult issues are likely to be solved, Stevens said, "It'll happen when people want to go home."
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