It came down to the wire last night, but disagreement over drought aid has indefinitely delayed the attempt to finally settle the omnibus spending bill in conference. A tentative agreement was laid out, however, with almost all other issues save the drought assistance resolved. The White House opposes drought assistance beyond the provisions of the 2002 farm bill and has threatened to veto the omnibus appropriations bill over this issue. Meanwhile, western Senators of both parties remain as firmly committed to ensuring that drought funding is included in the omnibus bill. This latest setback will push back the earliest possible completion date for the House to Thursday (assuming, of course, that the drought relief issue is settled quickly) and the Senate on Friday. Any minor delays could push the entire package back beyond the President's Day weekend.

Included in the package so far are a little more than $1 billion for Amtrak funding, along with an extension of the time required to payback the latest loan installment. Also the bill appears to increase highway construction non-discretionary funding to the Senate level of $31.8 billion this year, much higher than the administration wants or the House offered. Senate Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) will meet today with Vice President Cheney to try to break the deadlock. Conferees still expect to complete work this week on the omnibus bill and have no plans to adopt another stop-gap continuing resolution. The existing spending authority expires February 14. We'll have more information as the day progresses.