No sooner than a congressional budget resolution emerges from conference committee, do we get another obligatory statement from OMB Dirctor Rob Portman threatening to "veto appropriations bills that exceed our request for discretionary spending" and because the budget resolution "rel[ies] on tax increases." Portman's paranoia has him seeing tax increases where none exist; it's his own rite of passage in the Administration, at the expense of his hard-earned reputation after many years in Washington as an honest broker.

The first tentative steps were taken today toward bipartisan, if not quite bicameral, discussion of AMT reform. An initial meeting was held among members of the House Ways and Means Committee -- "an information session, not a strategy session," according to Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-NY). That's more encouraging language than committee ranking Republcan Jim McCreary's (R-LA) take yesterday on the Democratics' draft AMT reform package: "Scary."

For overviews of the budget resolution compromise package announced late this morning by the House and Senate Budget Committees, see:

• Overview of the FY 2008 Budget Conference Agreement
• Conrad-Spratt Press Release on Budget Conference Agreement

As the press release indicates, "[t]he full Senate and House are each expected to pass the fiscal year 2008 budget resolution this week." Some of the key provisions in the agreement that had been amoung the most heavily negotiated include:

This week, a number of business journals across the country are running an article titled, "New Regulatory Czar Will Have Plenty to Review," by Kent Hoover. (Here it is in the Philadelphia Business Journal.) The article spotlights Susan Dudley in her new position as administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).