This week on Capitol Hill

It will be another full week on Capitol Hill as the House and Senate return to Washington today and Tuesday. First, we're expecting several thousand truckers to show up on the West Lawn of the Capitol (the side facing the Washington Monument) to protest the cost of fuel. We'll be tracking that story today. Second, Democrats are hoping they can ink deals on a budget resolution and a farm bill. On Friday, lawmakers agreed on farm and nutrition programs and a finance package based mainly on maintaining customs fees. House Democratic moderates dropped categorical opposition to a budget without budget reconciliation and Alternative Minimum Tax offsets and opened negotiations over alternatives. Sen. Olympia Snowe's bill banning genetic discrimination, which passed the Senate 95 to 0, heads to the House where it is expected to win approval. The biggest issue coming down the pike is a war spending bill. Democratic leaders are considering splitting the bill into three parts: spending for Iraq, new spending on domestic programs, such as extending unemployment benefits, suspending the Bush administration's plan to cut Medicaid, and infant nutrition funding, and a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. The House will act before the Senate.