A conference report on the Transportation-Treasury spending bill has yet to be filed - even though the bill was approved by conferees on November 13 - because congressional appropriators and the White House have not come to an agreement on outsourcing language in the bill. The conferees approved a bill that would restrict the ability of the Office of Management and Budget to privatize certain government jobs. In the House version of the bill passed in September, lawmakers included a provision that would completely overturn the White House plan to outsource various government positions. The Transportation-Treasury spending bill passed by the Senate merely leavened the OMB plan, though the White House initiative generated lively debate on the Senate floor. The administration had initially threatened to veto a measure that prohibited the implementation of their outsourcing plan. However, the conference report adopts most of what the Senate bill included and only partially blocked the plan’s implementation, meaning the White House had to decide if the new language warranted a veto after the conferees approved a bill on November 13th.

Over the course of the last week, the administration has made their disapproval of the new language known to Congressional appropriators. The conferees have not filed a conference report because the administration objects to the compromise language in the bill. On Thursday, Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Young (R-Florida) met several times with White House staffers trying to iron out a deal on the outsourcing provisions. Both sides acknowledge that a deal on a compromise provision will eventually occur.

Originally, the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill was supposed to be attached to the omnibus bill to help expedite passage of the catchall measure. However, if a deal on the outsourcing provision is reached today, the Transportation-Treasury spending might be considered as early as tonight. Normally, conference reports must be filed a day before floor consideration, but the House Rules Committee marked up a rule on Thursday that waived that requirement.