[Mr.K]

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Major letdown. I saw you listed as the last post and thought some news broke................Oh well, I guess you are entitled to ASK questions like the rest of us. Just don't make a habit of it [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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Fine, fine, here's the latest from CongressDaily's PM edition... not much to chew on:

"Defense authorization conferees originally planned to wrap up work on the bill last week, but lawmakers left for the weekend before resolving several personnel and other issues. Aides said they hoped to complete the conference report in the next several days, with a House vote possible this week."

Analysis: Things have slowed down due to a few disagreements on military issues. The talk of nongermane policy riders has died down, though I remain unconvinced that this means that efforts on these items have diminished. We are now likely looking at a conference report being filed by Thursday mid-day, with a House vote either at the end of the week, or even early next week. Stay tuned, etc.

Also, I heard from some staff members today that things were stalled on discussions of personnel matters, and that the Senate would likely not act on any conference report until next week. Apparently National Guard issues are a real sticking point right now -- though I am not familiar with exactly what the flap is. As I have said before, delay will generally be a zero sum game: the longer the conference report remains open, the more time Frist and Co. have to cut a deal. On the flop side, the longer it remains open, the less time Congress will have to act on the matter if a deal is not struck.