The full House had planned to vote on a House-Senate compromise outlining $63.2 billion in agriculture spending for the 1996 fiscal year.

But overall the Democrats did not gain a single vote over last year, when the House-Senate compromise on the civil rights bill passed 273 to 154.

But it seems likely that a final budget, after a House-Senate compromise, will include tax increases.

An Energy Bill Advances Before the cable issue came to the floor, the major legislative action of the day was the House's adoption of the House-Senate compromise on energy legislation.

The close vote on the Gephardt amendment suggests that it may be abandoned in a final House-Senate compromise.

The House refused to pass House-Senate compromises on bills for the Defense and Interior Departments, which account for roughly a quarter of the budget.

Republican leaders are already conferring on the details of a House-Senate compromise.

Politico further reported that "a House-Senate compromise of the draft (Agriculture Appropriations) bills was brokered in December to include the House language.

The House-Senate compromise on Medicaid would also permit states to cover children through the age of 5 in families that are not poor but have incomes no more than 85 percent above the official poverty level.

They don't have much more room for slippage the next time, when they vote on a House-Senate compromise on the budget this summer.