Other members said that allowing lawmakers to hand out grants was superior to letting government agencies do it.

That would have allowed lawmakers to compare Mr. Starr's findings with the standards to determine if further investigation was even warranted.

For now, the privilege of allowing lawmakers to invite special guests who sit in a separate, unrestricted area has been suspended.

The resulting budget, which allows lawmakers to recess until a special session in the fall, has something for everyone to dislike.

But today, discussions that would have allowed other lawmakers on Mr. Burton's panel to review the copies broke down.

It was those compromises that allowed lawmakers of every stripe to find at least something about the legislation that pleased them.

Closed party conferences allow relatively few lawmakers to control legislative business.

That allowed lawmakers to look tough with no need for an immediate outlay of funds.

But a Senate version of the bill, which prevailed Wednesday, provided that the ban would expire in four years, allowing lawmakers to revisit the issue.

They cited "overly narrow" definitions that could allow federal lawmakers to suggest donors make soft money contributions.