Negotiations between the House and Senate on the FY 2002 supplemental spending bill (H.R. 4775) broke down after the White House threatened to veto the bill if spending was much more than the $28.8 billion requested by the President and consisted primarily of spending for defense and national security and aid to New York City.

Since being introduced as part of the TANF reauthorization bills earlier this month, the President’s "super-waiver" provision has undergone several significant revisions. The original provisions included in Rep. Wally Herger's (R-CA) H.R. 4090, and Rep. Buck McKeon's (R-CA) H.R. 4092, TANF bills allowed for governors to request a waiver of any statute or rule applied to any program in the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education. All that would be required of the governor was a proposal showing how the waiver was neutral in cost. The Secretary of the petitioned department would have 90 days to sign off on the proposal, and if the state received no response within 90 days, the proposal could be deemed approved.

The budget resolution that the House Budget Committee marked up and passed by a party line vote (23-18) on March 13, is expected to head to the Floor for debate this week. The budget resolution is not a law, but is a broad outline for spending and tax cuts for FY 2003, which begins on October 1, 2002 and runs through September 31, 2003.