Word on the Hill is that House and Senate negotiators are close enough to a final agreement on a joint budget resolution for confereees to be appointed and to meet next week, and for appropriations bills to start moving on the House floor the week of May 14. House budget resolution conferees are expected to be appointed next Monday, May 7. According to Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Senate will do likewise on May 9.

The Washington Post led today's edition with a large-font, top-of-the-front-page article entitled "Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable" that opened as follows: President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq.

A spokesman at the IRS announced yesterday that Deputy Commissioner Kevin Brown will become acting IRS commissioner May 4. Current Commissioner Mark Everson has accepted a position heading up the American Red Cross (see here and here for more on Everson's departure). In much the way a senior in college decided to go to graduate school to put off a decision about what to do with their life, the IRS said Brown would only be the acting commissioner for 25 days. For him to continue beyond that time would require White House approval.

Business Week has an interesting article on public infrastructure privatization... Steve Hogan was in a bind. The executive director of Colorado's Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority had run up $416 million in debt to build the 10-mile toll road between north Denver and the Boulder Turnpike, and he was starting to worry about the high payments. So he tried to refinance, asking bankers in late 2005 to pitch investors on new, lower-interest-rate bonds. But none of the hundreds of investors canvassed was interested.