The Senate will attempt to complete action on the FY 2006 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 4939) for military operations in Iraq/Afghanistan and Gulf Coast hurricane relief. The already contentious $106.5 billion supplemental could also include a proposal by GOP leadership that would address soaring gas prices. A cloture vote on the supplemental is expected sometime tomorrow.

The chamber is also scheduled to address several pieces of health-related legislation as part of its "Health Week." Measures to assist small businesses in purchasing health insurance and cap medical liability lawsuits, however, may be pushed back until the second week of May due to immigration reform legislation (S. 2454) that could hit the floor. It appears that Senate leaders are nearing a bipartisan agreement on a list of possible amendments for floor debate, as well as the appointment of conferees.

The House is scheduled to consider the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE Port Act) later in the week. The legislation, H.R. 4954, would authorize $7.4 billion over five years for implementing port security programs, including $1.9 billion for Coast Guard vessels improvements and would establish procedures for restoring port operations in the event of a terrorist attack.

The House could also consider the FY 2007 budget resolution. Last week, negotiators addressed potential new earmark rules, with an agreement that no changes be enacted unless they affect all committees, not just appropriations; further, the agreed-upon changes would not be included in the budget resolution, but rather another vehicle. Other contentious issues remain however, including efforts to raise the overall discretionary spending level and new limits on emergency spending. Even without a budget resolution, three House appropriations subcommittees are scheduled to begin marking up their FY 2007 spending bills throughout the week.

Senate Floor: The chamber convenes today, May 1, and is scheduled to resume consideration of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. A vote on a judicial nomination is also scheduled. Immigration reform legislation could be considered if the chamber finishes the emergency supplemental.

House Floor: The House will meet in pro forma session today, May 1, with no legislative business scheduled. Tomorrow, the chamber will consider 14 measures under suspension and on Wednesday, May 3, they will consider 3 additional measures under suspension. Later in the week, the chamber will consider the SAFE Port Act. No votes are scheduled for Friday, May 5.

The Senate will continue debate on H.R. 4939, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. The contentious $106.5 billion bill intended to primarily fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and provide hurricane relief along the Gulf Coast has also become a vehicle for unrelated items and earmarks.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) may attempt to include a GOP energy plan designed to address the soaring gas prices in the bill. The energy proposal is an eight-point plan which includes: a $100 rebate to taxpayers to help ease the burden of high gasoline costs; a price-gouging provision with penalties; a repeal of tax incentives to oil companies while expanding incentives to promote use of hybrid vehicles and increased refining capacity; clarification of language giving the U.S. Department of Transportation the authority to raise fuel economy standards; increased incentives for producing "cellulosic" biofuels that are made from plant material such as switch grass; support for halting the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; and an authorization for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The package would also repeal the last-in, first-out accounting method, in order to use the revenue raised to offset, at least in part, the gas tax rebate.

Senate Democrats meanwhile have proposed legislation drafted by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) that would institute a 60-day federal-fuel-tax holiday that would provide direct relief to consumers and businesses. The Democratic package would also eliminate a number of tax deductions and would change inventory-related tax rules for companies with more than $1 billion a year in gross revenues. Some Democrats have also called for a windfall-profits tax. Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) has offered an amendment to the overall bill that would impose a one-time 50% tax on windfall profits from oil produced by integrated oil companies in the 2006 tax year. The revenues would be used to fund a one-time, $450 rebate to low and middle income consumers.

With dozens of proposed amendments expected, the Senate could vote to cut back debate on the bill. Majority Leader Frist filed a cloture petition last week; the vote to limit debate and block non-germane amendments is scheduled for Tuesday. The Senator stated that he will push for an across-the-board cut to the package to meet the President's request of $94.5 billion, incorporating $2.3 billion in additional funding for pandemic flu protection, during conference negotiations.

Even if cloture is invoked, there is still a list of germane amendments to be considered. Included in that list (in an attempt to exercise fiscal restraint) is a proposal by GOP Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), and John McCain (R-AZ) to strike funding to earmarks they view as not qualifying as true emergencies. All funds contained in the supplemental fall outside normal budget caps on discretionary spending, and do not require offsets; therefore, the money adds to the growing deficit. The Senate gave the group their first victory last week when it agreed to remove $15 million from the bill that had been marked for seafood promotion.

The President has threatened to veto the bill if it exceeds his $94.5 billion initial request. 35 GOP Senators signed a letter last week, saying they would back Bush if he decided to veto the bill.

An agreement between House Republican leaders and appropriators on earmark rules has removed a major roadblock to adoption of the FY 2007 budget resolution. Disagreements still remain, however, over limits on emergency spending and funding for domestic programs. While House leaders have not rescheduled the budget resolution for floor action, adoption of the budget appears likely in the next few weeks with the recent agreement on earmark reform.

Even if the House adopts a resolution, reconciling the House and Senate bills during conference negotiations will prove difficult as the Senate version includes an additional $16 billion in discretionary spending compared to the president's proposed budget. The Senate also passed a stronger lobbying and earmark reform bill (S. 2349) which includes disclosure provisions that would apply to tax and authorization bills as well as spending bills, and would require conference reports to be publicly posted on the Internet for 48 hours before Senate consideration. It would also create a point of order process to allow individual senators to strike last-minute earmarks added to conference reports.

Last week, negotiators failed to reach a final agreement on the $70 billion tax reconciliation package. The current compromise includes both a two-year extension of the 15 percent top tax rates on capital gains and dividends income and a one-year alternative minimum tax (AMT) "patch." However, revenue raisers, which are needed to avert a Senate budget point of order, remain unresolved.

SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE RELEASES HURRICANE KATRINA REPORT

Last week, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee released a report titled "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared," which offers seven "foundational" recommendations to enhance the nation's emergency preparedness and response system. The Senate committee interviewed over 325 witnesses and reviewed more than 838,000 pages of government documents in an attempt to determine what went wrong. Recommendations in the report include:

Senate Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ranking Democrat Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) are expected to press the recommendations in legislation, although no fixed timetable has been set for a markup. The committee will hold hearings on the report over the next few weeks. For more information on the report, click here: http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Links.Katrina

The Administration released their report, "Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned," in February.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2007, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel approved an end-strength level of 350,000 for the Army National Guard (17,000 above the Administration's request), and 107,000 for the Air National Guard. In addition, the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee approved $318 million for the Army National Guard to fund equipment requirements for the 17,000 increase in end-strength.

In the President's FY 2007 budget, a proposal to reduce the National Guard end-strength authorization level to its current level of 333,000 soldiers (Congress currently authorizes up to 350,000) was met with controversy from a host of elected officials including, members of Congress, Adjunct Generals, and Governors. Secretary Rumsfeld has committed to fully fund the Army National Guard up to the level authorized by Congress.

Staff from both the Senate Health, Education, and Labor (HELP) Committee and the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee remain committed to a bi-partisan, bi-cameral process for completing the bill. There is no definite timeline for draft legislation, but it could be as soon as June. Last week during a House E&C Committee hearing, Chairman Barton (R-TX) announced his intention to reauthorize the act, which expired September 30, 2005. Barton said he would consider the Administration's principles as well as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations for reauthorizing the $2.1 billion program that provides funding to states and cities to provide prescription drugs and other lifesaving care for people diagnosed with HIV or living with AIDS.

The President's FY 2007 budget request proposed an increase of $95 million over the FY 2006 funding level, with $70 million of that increase to be used to address state waiting lists HIV/AIDS drugs and services. The Administration has also proposed moving funding to areas where there has been the greatest spread of disease over the past six years by eliminating the hold harmless provisions that currently apply to states and cities. GAO concurred with the proposal to reevaluate Ryan White funding formulas, noting that states and cities with emerging HIV/AIDS cases receive less funding per patient than states and cities with more established histories of the disease.

Staff from the Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee have noted that all CARE Act formulas were still under consideration, with the goal of providing equitable access to care for those eligible for services.