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. Confereees will confront differences between the House- and Senate-passed resolutions in March, most notably, those arising from an amendment by Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) that recommended using a projected $132 billion fiscal 2012 surplus $195 billion and another $60 billion over and above the projected surplus — to extend Bush's 2001 and 2003 middle-class tax cuts and expand SCHIP by $50 billion. House Budget Chairman John M. Spratt Jr. (D-SC) and members of the Blue Dog coalition oppose the Baucus amendment because it would, they say, violate the House's pay-as-you-go rule. Conferees will also need to resolve the $6 billion gap on an overall discretionary spending cap, among other issues.