Supplemental -- Hoyer Expects Bill Late Next Week: Amid reports that congressional Democrats haven't settled on a strategy yet regarding the president's $108 billion war spending supplemental request, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters yesterday that the House and Senate could take it up on the floor by the end of next week. "Democratic leaders have repeatedly said that, in the end, US troops in the field will be funded. But expectations are high that finally Congress will be able to extract a significant policy concession for that money." Story.

For the second time in as many weeks, the New York Times tries to make sense of the nation's housing crisis and editorializes in favor of expanded bankruptcy protection and against "voluntary" efforts to forestall further foreclosures and foster re-financings, but it flies in the face of the facts: Most important, Congress must not continue with efforts that have not worked to date, namely, appeals to the mortgage industry to act voluntarily to help distressed borrowers. Instead, lawmakers should allow bankrupt homeowners to have their mortgages modified under court protection.

Saturday's New York Times reported on an emerging if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them strategy congressional Democrats are weighing as Congress takes up the Bush administration's request for a $108 billion supplemental war spending package for FY08:

The Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service have concluded that rule changes imposed by the Bush administration on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 2007 violated federal law: BNA reports: In legal opinions released April 18, the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service said the SCHIP guidance is a rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) and so violates statutory requirements for congressional notice and review.