61.   However, she said, lawmakers have to avoid being dragged down by peripheral issues.

62.   If the cigarette companies, plaintiffs lawyers and state attorneys general work out an agreement that protects tobacco from future litigation, U.S. lawmakers have to give something back.

63.   If state lawmakers have their way, that wish may come true.

64.   If Congress accepts the advice, as it often does, lawmakers will have more money available for new Medicare benefits like prescription drug coverage.

65.   If Democrats win in the Senate, the legislation would move to a conference committee where lawmakers would have to reconcile the vast differences between the two versions.

66.   If the telephone deal holds, lawmakers will have only a few other major issues to resolve.

67.   In addition to the rent dispute, the lawmakers have differences over rules for welfare recipients in work programs, and over prison construction.

68.   In a sign of the difficulty lawmakers were having striking an agreement, the Senate, in essence, backed two competing proposals on Wednesday morning.

69.   In his line-by-line budget, Bush proposed slightly more spending in every category of the state budget than lawmakers have.

70.   In coming weeks, lawmakers will have to mull over similar arguments by others.