With the help of twenty-two Republican House members, the House surprisingly rejected the Labor/HHS appropriations bill which came out of conference negotiations last week. It is unclear now exactly what will happen with the bill, which would have cut $1.5 billion from programs. Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) want to return to conference to write a report more palatable to the dissenting Republican members, but House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has said he prefers adopting a yearlong continuing resolution to fund HHS programs. Funding the Labor-HHS programs under a yearlong continuing resolution effectively would trim $1.4 billion from the bill, because it would be funded at the lower of the last two years' spending levels.