House and Senate appropriations conferees hope this week to finally settle the contentious issues surrounding the fiscal 1998 defense and disaster relief supplemental spending package.
Conferees are scheduled to meet Tuesday to try to reach agreement as soon as possible, since the Pentagon has said it needs the money by early May to avoid having to begin laying off civilian employees and taking other cost-cutting measures.
Although House Republican leaders have not officially announced their decision, it appeared last week that under pressure from Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, they would not insist that defense funding be offset by cuts to other programs. However, House Republicans continued to insist that the disaster relief portion of the bill be offset with cuts.
The future of the entire supplemental spending package remained uncertain late last week. Conservative House Republicans were holding out the possibility they might vote against the bill if the defense funding is not offset. At the same time, Democrats continued to protest the GOP decision to offset the disaster relief spending with other domestic discretionary spending. And the Clinton administration also threatened to veto the package if changes are not made.
The administration also was unhappy with a GOP decision to delay supplemental funding for the International Monetary Fund.
The administration and Stevens had hoped the House would agree to consider the IMF funding as part of the disaster relief- defense bill, but House Republicans refused, saying the House had not voted on the issue yet.
As the House Thursday defeated a Democratic-sponsored attempt to instruct conferees on IMF funding, House Speaker Gingrich promised a vote on the IMF funding at some point this year, but did not say when the bill would go to the floor.
Also this week, House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, is scheduled to discuss his fiscal 1999 budget plan with the House Republican Conference. House Republican leaders last week directed Kasich to meet with various GOP factions to make sure they had a clear understanding of his plans.
House Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., and House Republican moderates have questioned the feasibility of Kasich's proposal, in particular his plan to cut spending by more than $100 billion over five years.