11.   Dunnellon Democrat Karen Thurman asks the Rules Committee to change the new Medicaid funding formula which she says will hurt Florida.

12.   Funding formulas are determined by the state legislature in Albany, and the city has to press for a better deal there.

13.   Funding formulas for everything from welfare, Medicaid, and money used to clean up Boston Harbor are at stake.

14.   Graham argued for a welfare funding formula based on the number of children living in poverty in each state.

15.   He said he and other members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation have been lobbying House Speaker Newt Gingrich and key lawmakers to change the funding formula.

16.   He said the five with strong reservations about the funding formula are the governors of Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

17.   His idea is to change the funding formula.

18.   However, the city could tap more money on the federal side, where some funding formulas are based on a pure head count.

19.   Hutchison has been pressing Senate leaders to adjust the funding formula to cushion the blow for her state.

20.   How seriously Northeastern members of Congress plan to fight the funding formula is unclear.