Fast-Track Slowed a Bit

The concerns raised about the DoD plan caused the measure to be slowed at least a bit and at least temporarily, but key committees could act on it as early as this week nonetheless. The House Armed Services Committee likely will attach the plan, or at least parts of it, to the fiscal 2004 DoD authorization bill that it is now drafting and which could come to a floor vote by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the House Government Reform Committee is set to take up a measure (HR-1836) that essentially would combine the DoD request with certain new authorities for NASA and the Securities and Exchange Commission into a broader civil service reform bill. Exactly how the measure might proceed is not definite, but officials say the greatest chance of enactment seems to be as part of the DoD authorization bill, not as a free-standing measure. All sides already are considering numerous alternative and fall-back positions.