The House-Senate Conference Committee on TEA-21 reauthorization held its first formal meeting yesterday. Dozens of opening speeches by conferees were the order of the day. The sum total of all that was said made it clear that no resolution has been reached -- and little substantive discussion has taken place -- on the topic of the overall funding number for the bill.

Perhaps the most noteworthy comment of all was House Majority Leader Tom Delay's (R-TX) that the President would only support the $283.9 billion figure and that he would support nothing higher than that either. Speaking most forcefully for those (clearly in the majority) who support a higher number, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) said the conferees should settle on a number between the House ($283.9) and the Senate ($294.5) because "that is what we do in conference." House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) said that if Members wanted to work out a different funding level "I'm not hard to find." However, it was clear that unlike last year, Thomas was not going to take a leadership role in trying to find a workable number.

Staffs will now resume their conversations about issues in the bill that can be discussed without having settled on the overall number. Unfortunately, such issues are small in number. If the conference is to be completed in time for the reauthorization to be passed before the current June 30 expiration, a decision on the funding level will need to come next week.

We are in regular touch with staff and Members of the Conference. We will keep you posted on developments.