Budget Status

From Congress Daily:

House and Senate Democrats are considering making the Labor-Health and Human Services [Fiscal Year 2008] Appropriations bill [which includes Social Security] the next major domestic policy fight with President Bush after the debate over children's health insurance. ...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring it up as early as Oct. 15, and sources said upon passage, House-Senate negotiators could quickly reconcile their differences and send the measure to the White House for Bush's expected veto.

The tactic would be similar to the current standoff over the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which Democrats perceive as a political winner despite lacking the votes to override a veto. ...

Bush says he will veto the Labor-HHS measure because it spends billions of dollars more than he wants; the House measure, at $11 billion above his request, fell several votes short of enough for a potential override.

The Senate version is roughly $9 billion above the request. ...

Leadership aides said Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have discussed the option but have not made a final decision, in part because the Labor-HHS bill has to clear the Senate. That is shaping up to be at least a weeklong battle with contentious debate over stem-cell language, which Bush is likely to threaten a veto over, as well as funding priorities and earmarks.

One reason Reid has delayed the Labor-HHS measure thus far is because Republicans have threatened numerous amendments.