CongressDaily($) is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send to the floor the Senate-passed version of SCHIP renewal. Unless the House changes the bill, it can then proceed directly to the president's desk. If he carries out his threats, it will be vetoed. If the House does amend the bill, it will have to return to the Senate before it sees the president's desk, possibly delaying passage beyond SCHIP's September 30 expiration date.

Studying public opinion on economic inequality can make you both hopeful and cynical. On the one hand, we sincerely don't like extreme and rising inequality, for uniquely American reasons. But on the other, we support legislation -the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts being most notable- that make society even more unequal. And we don't support a lot of legislation that would level the playing field.

The White House continues to push for budget cuts. Today's Washington Post: The White House in recent days told nearly a dozen Cabinet secretaries to send letters to Capitol Hill rejecting Democrats' proposed new funds for their agencies, escalating a confrontation between lawmakers and President Bush over domestic spending priorities.

CongressDaily($) is reporting that House and Senate leadership are making headway in agreeing to SCHIP reauthorization. ...the House will likely take up another children's healthcare bill next week, according to a House leadership aide. That bill is expected to stick closely to Senate-passed legislation that would add $35 billion to SCHIP... If the House picks up the Senate version, not only will the proposed level of SCHIP funding be $15 billion less than the original proposal, but Medicare provisions will be separated from the bill and have to be offered in an alternative venue.