Senators back Iraq supplemental, turn to other spending bills

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has convinced Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to give him one more chance to consider acting on fiscal 2004 appropriations bills under regular order, rather than in a package of several bills rolled together.

Stevens plans to seek Senate consideration of the VA-HUD measure Tuesday. Stevens told Frist Monday that he could push the measure through quickly this week and get it to conference-with an additional $1.3 billion for veterans' health care-before Veterans Day next Tuesday. But Frist may pull the plug if the floor situation bogs down, sending remaining unfinished spending bills straight to conference with the House. "The omnibus sword of Damocles is hanging over [Stevens'] head," a leadership aide said.

The final details came into sharper focus Monday, after senators approved the $87.5 billion fiscal 2004 Iraq supplemental by voice vote, sending it to President Bush.

The Senate also voted 87-2 to approve the $20.2 billion, Interior conference report-with Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., opposing a provision on Indian trust fund lands and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., voting no.

The Interior bill would be the fourth of 13 spending bills signed by the president-the others being Defense, Homeland Security and Legislative Branch.

Senators debated Monday whether to remain in session through Veterans' Day next Tuesday. The House will not be in session next Monday or Tuesday.

At the same time, Republican leaders are nearing a decision to roll the massive fiscal 2004 Labor-HHS spending bill into the omnibus, GOP aides confirmed Monday. While sources held out hope negotiators could reach a separate deal on the measure-at $138 billion the largest of the nondefense discretionary spending bills-the issue of overtime compensation rules continued to stymie the measure's progress.

Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., backs the Senate position, which would block implementation of Labor Department changes in decades-old rules governing overtime compensation that organized labor alleges could throw as many as eight million workers off overtime rolls. The White House has threatened to veto the bill over the provision and has shown no signs of relenting.

One business lobbyist familiar with the negotiations said, "We're at a point now where the only way to move the ball forward is to wrap it into an omnibus." The lobbyist, who is working to strip the Senate provision, said if the rule changes were blocked, "1.3 million people on the low end would not receive overtime." House and Senate GOP leaders are opposed to the Senate amendment, although it enjoys Stevens' support.

While packaging the Labor-HHS bill in an omnibus would make it easier to strip language blocking the overtime rules changes, a leadership aide suggested the move also would provide political cover to lawmakers who oppose the change in overtime rules.

Including the politically popular Labor-HHS bill in the omnibus could serve to propel other measures, a Senate GOP aide said.

For example, the Commerce-Justice-State bill is funded at levels lower than last year, causing painful budget cuts-particularly in the Senate version-as well as a presidential veto threat over provisions blocking changes to media ownership rules.

If Stevens can get the VA-HUD bill through separately, that would pare the omnibus down to the Commerce-Justice-State, Agriculture and District of Columbia bills, although possible inclusion of the Labor-HHS bill would boost its size considerably.

Meanwhile, House and Senate aides said negotiators should be able to wrap up the Military Construction conference this week, although conferees are still deadlocked.

Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has insisted on more funding for domestic earmarks-arguing House colleagues also requested the funds-while House conferees want more for overseas bases.

"The crux of the problem is, we're trying to convince the Senate we have a bicameral legislature," a House Appropriations Committee spokesman said.

Conferees on the Energy and Water bill are slightly further apart, with funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository remaining a sticking point.

Aides expect the other two measures in conference-Transportation-Treasury and Foreign Operations-to be wrapped up by Thanksgiving. This week Congress will have to clear another continuing resolution, expected to last through Nov. 21.