The Senate reached a consent agreement today on motions to instruct conferees to the budget resolution. House-Senate negotiators on the FY 2008 budget resolution have begun debating and voting on motions, and the Senate has completed the procedural steps needed to appoint its conferees on the measure. The Senate will ultimately debate at least four Republican motions to instruct budget blueprint (S Con Res 21) conferees, facilitating the extension of various Bush '01/'03 tax cuts, possibly one from Democrat Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) on energy and another from Budget Committee chief Kent Conrad (D-ND) on a legislative "trigger" tied to the projected budget surplus actually materializing before it can be used as an offset for extensions of some expiring tax cuts. The timing for the ultimate vote on passage of S Con Res 21 remains unchanged -- informally a May 15 target date for passage exists because, on that date, appropriations bills can be brought to the House floor whether a budget is in place or not; in place is preferred since a passed resolution helps set caps and spending bills. "I think we'll get it done next week," Conrad said. We've outlined the major substantive stick points facing the conference committee here.