House and Senate appropriators have mapped out a plan for finishing work on all 11 appropriations bills before Thanksgiving, however there is some speculation that reconciliation will force GOP leaders to work slowly on appropriations to keep pressure on members to stay in town into December to complete other unfinished business. Congressional conferees are expected to wrap up work on the FY 2006 Agriculture spending bill this week, and if all goes according to plans, appropriators may complete negotiations on a $30.5 billion FY06 Energy and Water bill this week. The week of November 7 they are hoping to complete work on the Defense spending bill (including $50 billion for overseas military operations), as well as the Science-State-Justice-Commerce and Military Quality of Life measures. Their ambitious plan also includes passage of the Labor-HHS and Transportation-Treasury bills the week before Thanksgiving, as well as a short-term continuing resolution (the current CR expires Nov. 18) to give President Bush time to sign remaining spending bills into law. We'll see if they will actually be able to come to a consensus on reconciliation and tackle all of this approps work in the weeks ahead.

Even though the amendment the House was considering voting on last week to increase the budget cuts in reconciliation to $50 billion from $35 billion is off the table due to a lack of votes, many members of the House leadership are still focused on getting these budget cuts through the reconciliation spending bill. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, who is temporarily serving as House Leader for Rep. Delay (R-TX), noted yesterday that House remains committed to approving $50 billion in cuts in the final package, saying. These cuts, which were harmful at $35 billion, will cause significantly more damage at $50, and are unnecessary in the wake of Katrina, even though many lawmakers are saying otherwise.

The dramatic (and heavily covered) speech by former State Dept. Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson is most noted for its reference to a White House "cabal" that drove America into war with Iraq, but it's worth noting that Wilkerson's speech addressed a fundamental problem of mismanaging government that has not just international but also domestic policy consequences:

From BNA(subscription required) Charitable sector reforms and incentives are likely to move piecemeal and, like a package of tax incentives to aid disaster reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, may be attached to the tax reconciliation package to be taken up in the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said Oct. 24.