WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!!  The Senate passed, 92-8, its Appropriation bill
(S. 1061)
on 9/11. The Nays were:

     Ashcroft (R-MO)
     Coats  (R-IN)
     Faircloth  (R-NC)
     Gramm  (R-TX)
     Helms (R-NC)
     Inhofe (R-OK)
     Sessions (R-AL)
     Smith (R-NH)

The Udall bill, being an amendment (S.AMDT.1074), was therefore passed as
well. Now the House must complete their work on H.R. 2264, their
appropriation bill.
A conference committee will then be chosen to iron out differences between
the two
versions of the bills.

Constituents need to contact their Representatives on the Appropriation
committee
to urge them to accept the Senate version of the bill. I will repost an earlier
message that lists all the members on the committee.

Margaret Tuchman
Happy in NJ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AAU Washington News Summary
http://www.tulane.edu/~aau/LatestNews.html
For the Week of September 6-September 12, 1997

Appropriations

The House and Senate this week continued debating their FY'98
Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bills (H.R. 2264 and S. 1061).

    In the House, the debate was protracted by a group of about 20 GOP
conservatives, who forced consideration of a long string of amendments as a
means of protesting the large domestic-spending increase the bill contains.
After many days of having their amendments defeated by large margins, the
dissidents on 9/10 finally cut a deal on the remaining major issues, thus
paving the way for final passage of that measure. However, the deal required
action on a number of still-pending amendments, and the House did not
complete that process this week. As has been noted above, final passage is
now expected on or about next Tuesday.

    There was no such protest in the Senate, but the debate there was also
lengthy. The Senate finally passed its bill 9/11 by a vote of 92-8. During
its debate this week, the Senate:

        9/8 adopted 84-4 an amendment by Jack Reed (D-RI) to restore $35
million for the State Students Incentive Grants (SSIG)  program.

        9/9 rejected 45-54 an amendment by John McCain (R-AZ) to repeal a
reconciliation bill provision that offers incentives to medical schools
nationwide to reduce the number of medical residents.

        9/11 adopted 51-49 an amendment by Slade Gorton (R-WA) that would
fold about $11 billion worth of major K-12 programs into a single
block-grant program for local school districts. This amendment is highly
controversial, and some are saying it could lead to a veto if it is retained
in the final version of the bill.

    House Appropriations Chairman Robert Livingston (R-LA) and the panel's
ranking member, David Obey (D-WI), 9/9 sent a letter to Appropriations
Committee members saying they intend, if needed, to pass a clean continuing
resolution that would run until 10/9 to give Congress time to complete all
FY'98 appropriations.

    CongressDaily reported 9/11 that House Speaker Gingrich was urging key
House and Senate players on the VA/HUD/Independent Agencies appropriations
bill to settle their differences over Section 8 housing issues so the bill
could move forward in conference.


======================================
DEFINITIONS

CONFEREE is a congressperson named as a negotiator for his/her chamber in
discussions with the other house. Formally known as "managers," the
conferees meet in a conference committee to resolve differences on bills.

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION is used to take action or express opinion on behalf
of both the House and Senate. It does not make law. Uses include fixing
adjournment dates & setting the annual congressional budget.

CONFERENCE refers to a series of formal meetings between House and Senate
members. The purpose of a conference is to reconcile the differences between
the two chambers' version of a bill.

A CONFERENCE COMMITTEE is created to resolve differences between similar
versions of a House and Senate bill.

A CONFERENCE REPORT refers to the final version of a bill negotiated by House
and Senate conferees. It also contains the "statement of managers," a
section-by-section explanation of the agreement.

A CONTINUING RESOLUTION, also known as a "CR," continues funding for a
program if the fiscal year ends without a new appropriation in place.
A "CR" provides temporary funding at current levels or less.

Margaret Tuchman (55yrs, Dx 1980)- NJ-08540
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