11.   After any spending package is announced, politicians -- at the behest of the Finance Ministry -- will force Japan to swallow the consumption tax increase.

12.   But Democrats said they would block any deal until Bush embraced the full spending package as his own.

13.   But House leaders schedule a vote on a spending package with none of the funds sought by the administration.

14.   But House leaders schedule a vote on a spending package without of the funds sought by the administration.

15.   Concerned about high budget deficits, Japanese officials have expressed reservations in recent days about whether their government will draw up another spending package to encourage economic recovery.

16.   Even though Clinton signed the military spending package, his remarks about the Pentagon bill were decidedly mixed.

17.   Gingrich was criticized by conservative members of the party over the spending package passed by the House.

18.   He has said he did so because it was part of a Republican Pentagon spending package that he considered too costly.

19.   Hutchison said Wednesday that she and Gramm had not yet decided whether to offer the directive as an amendment to the spending package pending in the Senate.

20.   Hutchison is one of the leading sponsors of the anti-shutdown provision, and she insisted Wednesday that it should stay in the spending package now being considered.