House, Senate likely to take another extension on spending bills

Senate GOP leaders are planning to go along with the House in approving a one-week continuing resolution to fund the government through next Friday, Nov. 7, fueling speculation that Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., may be preparing to abandon his strategy of moving through remaining fiscal 2004 appropriations bills one by one.

"This was supposed to be approps week--and it's already Wednesday," a leadership aide said.

With the House expected to approve the CR Wednesday and the Senate to likely clear it as early as Thursday, Frist will face pressure to put the remaining spending bills together in an omnibus. House GOP leaders are clearly prodding their Senate counterparts, who were hesitant to approve a one-week CR.

"I'm very pleased to see the appropriations process has sped up a little bit," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said. He noted the Senate passed the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill in a single day, "which means the 'minibus' gets smaller and smaller."

DeLay said he hopes Congress could approve the Iraq supplemental and Energy and Water appropriations bills "by the end of the week."

The House was expected to pass a $20 billion Interior conference report today, although it could face opposition from House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., over a provision on Indian Trust lands. The Senate may follow suit by the end of the week.

But other spending bills may require considerable Senate floor time, particularly the VA-HUD and Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bills-as well as the District of Columbia measure, if GOP leaders decide to push a school voucher initiative.

Frist pulled an $18.1 billion Foreign Operations spending bill from the floor Wednesday in favor of taking up the Bush administration's "healthy forests" bill. But aides said the Foreign Operations bill still could be approved by the end of the week, with an agreement brewing between Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles, R-Okla., to find additional money by reprogramming funds from another spending bill to pay for an amendment by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, to add $289 million for global AIDS funding.

The Agriculture appropriations bill is currently the next spending bill in line, although Frist also wants to move to a climate change measure and the Internet tax moratorium this week.

Meanwhile, conferees on the Iraq supplemental hoped to wrap up Wednesday night, although contentious debate on Iraq loans and veterans' health care were expected. The House could get to the measure as early as Friday, but the Senate may not act until next week.

The Iraq reconstruction package is expected to remain in grant form, with GOP sources claiming they have secured support from GOP Sens. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, who previously favored loans.

Conferees Wednesday agreed to adopt a Senate-approved provision extending Pentagon health benefits to National Guard members and reservists through Sept. 30, 2004, at a $72 million cost, and rejected an effort by Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, R-Nev., to initiate Justice Department settlement discussions for prisoners of war from the first Gulf War.