WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- With the U.S. Senate and House having already approved competing measures, Congress is unlikely to see any budget action before next week.
While negotiators are expected to resume Tuesday, Republican aides said major sticking points remain between House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, and his Senate counterpart, Don Nickles, R-Okla., on both bodies' 2005 budget resolution.
The annual budget resolution sets the standards for the federal appropriations process each year.
The top issue remains whether provisions included in the Senate version of the bill requiring all tax cuts and increases in spending be offset with other cuts in spending or other taxes. GOP leaders have indicated a willingness to accept the limits on spending, but remain staunchly opposed to such restrictions on tax cuts.
That opposition has raised the ire of Republican fiscal conservatives who are planning on attempting to block action on any bill they feel busts the federal budget.
House and Senate GOP leaders are reportedly planning on taking up the budget compromise as soon as a deal is reached, likely not until sometime next week.
