Over on our analysis side we've got a series of forms for the various House Appropriations subcommittees. Be sure to go check them out.

The Senate Democrats released the lineup of ranking members for the newly reworked Senate Appropriations subcommittees. The actual changes are fairly minor, as the altered subcommittees only affected one ranking member.

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) will now become the new ranking member of the CJS subcommittee. Her old panel, the VA/HUD subcommittee, has been removed under the new scheme. Given that the former head of the CJS panel had retired, (Senator Fritz Hollings (South Carolina), Mikulski's move won't affect any other Dems.

With that, here's the current roster of ranking members for the 109th Congress:

Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)

Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)

Defense

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)

District of Columbia

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)

Energy and Water

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada)

Homeland Security

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)

Interior and Related Agencies

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota)

Interior and Related Agencies

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota)

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

Legislative Branch

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-California)

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)

Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington)

The House passed H.R. 27 yesterday by a vote of 224-200 to revamp the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). The vote was primarily along party lines with a few exceptions. Eight Republicans voted with the Democrats against the bill and 4 Democrats voted with the Republicans for the bill. H.R. 27 would combine job-training funds for adults, dislocated workers, and employment services into a single state block grant and provide Governors with new discretion to distribute funds. It also includes language to establish Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs) for unemployed workers. An amendment offered by Rep. Robert Scott (D-Virginia) to strike controversial language allowing faith-based organizations to consider the religious beliefs of job applications failed by a vote of 186-239. This provision and the PRAs could be challenged in the Senate.

Yesterday Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the below plan to restructure the committee. The plan eliminates only one subcommittee and restructures the jurisdiction of several others. Although the plan is not as far reaching as one adopted earlier this year by the House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) believes the new structure should enable the Senate and House panels to work smoothly together on the 13 annual spending bills.

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT (8-7)

Senators Bennett, Cochran, Specter, Bond, McConnell, Burns, Craig, Brownback

COMMERCE, JUSTICE, & SCIENCE (8-7) (*increased from 7-6)

Senators Shelby, Gregg, Stevens, Domenici, McConnell, Hutchison, Brownback, Bond.

DEFENSE (10-9)

Senators Stevens, Cochran, Specter, Domenici, Bond, McConnell, Shelby, Gregg, Hutchison, Burns.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (3-2)

Senators DeWine, Cochran, Allard.

ENERGY & WATER (9-8) (*increased from 7-6)

Senators Domenici, Cochran, McConnell, Bennett, Burns, Craig, Bond, Hutchison, Allard.

HOMELAND SECURITY (9-8)

Senators Gregg, Cochran, Stevens, Specter, Domenici, Shelby, Craig, Bennett, Allard.

INTERIOR & RELATED AGENCIES (8-7)

Senators Burns, Stevens, Cochran, Domenici, Bennett, Gregg, Craig, Allard.

LABOR, HHS, & EDUCATION (8-7)

Senators Specter, Cochran, Gregg, Craig, Hutchison, Stevens, DeWine, Shelby.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH (3-2)

Senators Brownback, DeWine, Allard.

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION & VETERANS AFFAIRS (6-5) (*increased from 5-4)

Senators Hutchison, Burns, Craig, DeWine, Brownback, Allard.

STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS (8-7)

Senators McConnell, Specter, Gregg, Shelby, Bennett, Bond, DeWine, Brownback.

TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, JUDICIARY & HUD (10-9) (*increased from 8-7)

Senators Bond, Shelby, Specter, Bennett, Hutchison, DeWine, Brownback, Stevens, Domenici, Burns.

The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure today approved for floor consideration H.R. 3 - the "TEA-LU" legislation. The mark-up was speedy and no amendments were offered. The Chairman put before the committee an "Chairman's Mark" that included some minor revisions to the original version of the bill as introduced a few weeks ago. Changes to the introduced bill relating to the highway funding formula were not included in the chairman's version. It is expected a "committee amendment" will be offered on the floor of the House that will include provisions on the highway formula, Buy America in the transit program and other topics.

Here is the text of the Chairman's Mark from today. It contains a list of 3315 "High Priority Projects" in the highway program. We have the project list and are providing our clients with information on projects of interest included on the list.

Floor consideration is expected as early as March 9. We will keep our clients posted on developments.

Today the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization legislation is on the House floor. The Democratic leadership expects it to be approved on a party line vote with the Republicans voting for it and the Democrats voting against, with a possible handful of exceptions.

The measure includes two notable provisions. One is a provision that would allow "faith-based" groups that receive job-training grants to use religious preferences in hiring. Most Democrats oppose this provision, concerned that it promotes religious discrimination with the use of federal funds. This measure will likely face great opposition in the Senate.

The second provision would combine several job training programs into a single $3 billion block grant program and give governors more discretion over how such funds are spent. Some members are concerned that beneficiaries of existing programs could lose funding under the proposal.

Also in the bill is an initiative to fund partnerships between community colleges and employers in high-demand industries as well as a pilot program to provide personal re-employment accounts to unemployed workers. Congress had refused to fund the $50 million Bush voucher proposal, so the Labor Department announced in September it was using $9 million in discretionary funds to set up a pilot program in nine states. Seven states now participate in the program

Governors attending the National Governors Association conference in Washington this week met with President Bush to discuss Medicaid. Governors and administration officials expressed doubt that they could reach a quick agreement on a package of cost saving changes in the health care program.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has urged governors to embrace a number of program changes to save money and has urged them to move quickly to present a united front on Capitol Hill.

The rapid growth in Medicaid has severely strained state budgets and governors of both parties say the program must be restructured to save money and provide better health care for low-income Americans.

Governors are wary of making a deal without knowing more about whether they can fend off cuts the size Bush has recommended in his new budget. President Bush has recommended $60 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next ten years.

The Medicaid issue is a bipartisan one. Both Republican and Democrats face the same problems, as rising enrollment and growing health care costs have forced state executives to squeeze the program in the past few years. Governors, however, are divided over strategy.

Governor Leavitt told the governors that “there is not as much desire in the halls of Congress for a Medicaid debate and discussion” as there is in the states and that progress will require a consensus solution from the governors and the administration.

Some governors are concerned about locking themselves into a number, rather than looking at a broad array of reform that in turn will drive the budget number.

President Bush today spoke to the nation's governors, saying that he would work with them to reduce the costs of Medicaid, which has been increasingly straining state budgets. From the Post this afternoon:

Before the White House meeting, governors said they opposed Bush's proposal to cut some $40 billion from the system. They also wanted the ability to experiment in order to lower costs. Many were encouraged by parts of the administration's budget proposal that would give states more flexibility.

"We want Medicaid to work," Bush told the governors before a brief, private question-and-answer session. "The system needs to be reformed and we want to work with governors."

But the one detail Bush emphasized was his plan to cut federal dollars in an effort to stop state Medicaid accounting practices that the administration contends cheats taxpayers.

Many state leaders say the money derived this way is essential. Federal officials say it artificially inflates health care prices to bring in more federal cash, which states sometimes use for other purposes.

Restraining the growth of Medicaid payments is a big issue for states, who have seen the program begin to take up over 20% of their budget each year.

Over on our analysis side we've got a look at the latest news surrounding the highway funding minimum guarantee provisions for the re-authorization of TEA-21. Be sure to check it out.