Congress passes 18th resolution keeping agencies open

Congress passed its 18th continuing resolution, Thursday, keeping government agencies funded by the four outstanding FY2001 bills running through midnight Friday. The House approved the CR, 359-11, and the Senate followed, 96-1, with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., casting the lone "no" vote.

The House today will vote on a CR to keep the unfunded agencies open through midnight Monday. Although the House will hold a roll call vote, the Senate plans to pass the CR by voice vote.

Both chambers will have to return for business Monday to pass the next CR, which is expected to run through next Friday. Some hope it will be the final CR of the 106th Congress.

Congressional leaders met with President Clinton on Monday to discuss ways to end the budget stalemate. On hand at the Oval Office gathering were House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas--the same group that convened in an effort to jump start budget talks Monday.

At the meeting, Republicans came to the table with a proposal to pare the nearly $113 billion Labor-HHS spending bill to $107 billion but did not put forth a detailed plan for trimming the measure.

OMB Director Jacob Lew expressed skepticism that the cuts could be easily found. But both sides agreed to throw the matter back to appropriators and White House budget experts, who will see if the $107 billion figure can be reached.

Republicans and the White House had agreed to the higher number just before Election Day. The deal collapsed over an ergonomics rule that Republicans opposed and the administration was determined to publish--and did after the election.

The White House is concerned that cuts to the Labor-HHS bill would harm Clinton's cherished education initiatives, which remain a top priority.

One senior Clinton aide said he was "deeply dubious" about the prospects for deleting $6 billion from the bill while leaving education funding alone.

"We have a lot of work to do," he said.

The group concurred, however, that Congress should pass a continuing resolution that would expire Monday night.

Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was among the hopeful Thursday evening, saying, "I think if we sit down and negotiate in good faith that we can come up with something."

Harkin said Republicans' push to cut the Labor-HHS bill back to $107 billion would be "too deep." Nonetheless, he was optimistic that a final deal was in sight.

"I think if we a have a few days, we'll be done," Harkin said. "We'll be out of here by next week. We'll have this thing put to bed next Wednesday or Thursday."

Lisa Caruso and Geoff Earle contributed to this article.