We have spent a good part of this week on Capitol Hill getting a sense of what to expect in the lame duck session of Congress that begins on Tuesday, Nov. 16 and is scheduled to end by Friday, November 19. As this is written, it appears there is a good potential that fiscal 2005 spending bills will be done. There is little potential for anything else to be completed.

Our contacts with people on both sides of the Capitol lead us to expect that an "omnibus" package of up to eight appropriations bills will be assembled by staff in the first part of the week and will emerge for floor consideration later in the week. This package will contain all the uncompleted appropriations bills except one -- Energy &Water. That bill is being held up by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada), the presumptive incoming Senate Minority Leader, over the issue of the planned nuclear waster repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The overall contours of the legislation are being worked out over the weekend. The main unknown is the degree to which the White House and/or more conservative members will seek to squeeze spending levels. It appears the biggest push for restraint may come in the form of an effort by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) to move a "continuing resolution" that would freeze spending at fiscal 2004 levels. If such an amendment were to succeed on the House floor and then be adopted by the Senate, the impact on project funding earmarks would be substantial and -- most likely -- negative. We do not expect such an attempt to succeed, but will be monitoring the process continually as it unfolds.

The other major item slated for consideration by Congress next week is the intelligence reform package. News reports in recent days suggest progress has been hard to come by in resolving issues between GOP members in the House and Senate on that legislation. There is a good chance this bill will be shelved for the year and considered anew in the new Congress after the first of the year.

With regard to TEA-21 reauthorization, despite statements by certain leadership-level people to the effect there will be an effort to move something in the lame-duck session, we see no evidence of that. We had the opportunity to discuss this matter one of the key leaders of Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday and he indicated there was virtually no chance TEA-21 could be done next week. Our staff contacts have backed-up that assessment. We continue to believe TEA-21 reauthorization is an issue for 2005.

It will be a hectic an eventful week next week. We will keep you posted on all developments.