The House in passing an appropriations bill that contains a 4.1 percent federal raise has set up a potential veto confrontation with the White House, which objects not only to the raise figure but also to language added in House floor voting regarding contracting-out. The House adopted an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury bill (HR-2989) to bar the government from using the revised contracting procedures outlined in revisions published several months ago to Circular A-76, the contracting-out guidance. The vote, which would allow contracting-out studies to continue but only under the old rules, is the latest shot in a running battle between the administration and employee organizations and certain members of Congress over not only those specific rules-which seek to speed up the process and which change some of the ground rules-but also over the administration’s general emphasis on considering jobs for private sector performance. Attention now turns to the Senate, which has drafted a counterpart bill (S-1589) that also specifies a 4.1 percent raise but which contains no counterpart language on contracting-out.