Update - Week of September 25th

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

I'm in my CongressDaily free trial period too, so let me be the first to post the PM update.

"The fate of the FY07 defense authorization bill remained uncertain today as House Speaker Hastert refused to back off his effort to attach unrelated, non-defense legislation to the measure. Senate Armed Services Chairman Warner has opposed making the defense bill a Christmas tree for other legislation, leading to a standoff with the speaker. Specifically, Hastert has threatened to shelve the bill unless Warner agrees to the addition of federal court security legislation and a Republican measure aimed at detaining and deporting immigrant gang members. Today, Hastert said he had received assurances from Senate Majority Leader Frist that Congress would consider both measures this week, perhaps as part of the defense authorization bill. "These promises have not been kept," Hastert said. [...]

House Majority Leader Boehner suggested today that the defense authorization measure is not a must-pass piece of legislation for lawmakers to consider before leaving to campaign for the midterm congressional elections. The House will vote tonight on the Defense appropriations bill, ensuring that FY07 funds are available to the military at the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year. "Getting the authorization bill finished in the same time frame would be good for us," Boehner said. "It is not essential."

tl;dr: No movement yet, and if anything it sounds like the princpals in the matter are becoming resigned to this bill waiting until the lame duck session. But as with everything else this week, it's far, far, far from over until the fat gavel sounds.