Negotiators continued late Thursday to try to close elusive deals on appropriations issues that have haunted them for months. However, at the end of the day, none of the appropriations conference reports were quite ready to take to the floor, even though many GOP conservatives wanted commitments on the funding measures before today's fast track vote in the House.
One key conservative, Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said some of his allies still were saying they need the funding issues resolved before voting for the trade bill. Early Thursday evening, House Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters, "Nothing serious is happening in the way of compromise." However, following lengthy discussions on the floor, Obey said that on the issue of national testing, "I think we are finally making some progress." But negotiators still could not close deals on family planning language in the Foreign Operations bill. And while they struggled to finish census sampling language, other issues in the Commerce-Justice-State bill were causing trouble.
Obey said that if the Commerce-Justice-State conference opens, "I will be opening a number of items."
Obey was particularly upset with a questionnaire Republicans proposed to send to all taxpayers.
As negotiators grappled with appropriations, fast track and other legislation, the GOP leadership indicated that a weekend session is increasingly likely.
"The odds are now that we will be in session Saturday and possibly Sunday," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., told his colleagues in a floor statement. House leadership sources echoed that sentiment late Thursday.
Meanwhile, it remained unclear what the relationship between fast track and the funding issues was.
Some Republicans continued to say that conservatives would withhold their votes on the trade legislation if they were not satisfied with deals on family planning and national education testing.
And Chief Deputy Majority Whip Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he believed the funding issues have to be settled before the fast track vote.
Various House members continued to work on the testing language, which would require the National Academy of Sciences to study whether current tests could be used.
However, supporters and opponents of national testing haggled over when field testing could begin.
Opponents wanted field testing banned until after Sept. 30, meaning another appropriations cycle would be required before field testing of tests could begin; supporters wanted an earlier date.
House Education and the Workforce Chairman Bill Goodling said he wanted a Sept. 30 date; Obey said it was still an open question.
Democrats also were talking to members of the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses about their opposition. Black Caucus Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said her caucus continued to oppose testing because no additional funds would be sent to needy school districts.
However, as negotiators continued to work on the plan, Waters said she was willing to consider any plan they developed.
Members of the Hispanic Caucus were more upset. Chairman Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., said his caucus is unhappy because reading tests would not be given in Spanish, affecting children who are reading proficient, but not in English.
"We have no choice," Becerra said. "We have to protect the three to four million children."
Asked if his members would oppose the entire Labor-HHS funding bill over the testing plan, Becerra said, "We'll cross that bridge. It's an ugly bridge to cross."
Later, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, said it appeared that Hispanic Caucus members were prepared to oppose the entire bill over testing.
Meanwhile, a possible deal on family planning language fell apart late Wednesday, when moderate Republicans and Democrats refused to sign off on language that would have banned family planning funds for certain international organizations, but would have allowed President Clinton to waive the ban.
The groups then would have been funded at a reduced level. A Republican source said conservatives were "raising the bar" by demanding even less funding for the programs.
House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., clearly was frustrated with Republican leaders who he said were forcing appropriators to deal with a plan that should have been handled by the authorizing committee.
"This is the speaker's issue," he said. "It is not my issue." He later added, "I'm not an authorizer. I'm an appropriator."
Callahan said that in the future if GOP leaders want him to deal with contentious issues, he should be able to limit the number of conferees. "If they want me to run the train, let them give me the throttle," he said. "But they have me in the caboose."
On the Commerce-Justice-State bill, Obey said that questions contained in a proposed questionnaire to be sent to taxpayers under the bill were biased; Democrats proposed an alternative set of questions.
House Appropriations Committee aides said that an additional continuing resolution might be needed to allow funding bills to flow through the process, since the current CR expires at midnight.
One Republican source said the CR might last until Nov. 14, adding that as the hours dragged on it was becoming less likely Congress could adjourn this weekend.
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