He wants them to vote instead for his emergency bill, which cannot be amended.

But that might be a harder sell, said a Congressional staff member working on the Senate's still evolving emergency bill.

After weeks of argument, Democrats gave in to President Bush, agreeing on an emergency urban bill $1 billion smaller than they wanted.

In the Democratic-controlled Senate, which has its own $31 billion version of the emergency bill, the tactics were reversed today.

After two days of intense haggling, they had not begun to fight over how to pay for the emergency bill.

But that emergency bill may finally be bringing its owner some good fortune.

The House and Senate each have approved the emergency bill but in different forms.

The emergency bill stems from the fact that the Pentagon does not budget for wars or peacekeeping operations.

Mr. Lott's little project was not the only provision inserted into the emergency bill without public discussion.

"If there is a demonstrated need, we'll do the emergency bill next week," she said.