The committee had hoped to begin on the bill on Tuesday, but lawmakers are now looking for action some time next week.

If a problem is really crucial, sometimes lawmakers drop their objections or look for a compromise.

Under pressure from service industries, lawmakers are looking for alternatives to the sales taxes on services that they had agreed to earlier.

But if lawmakers are looking for a company with a completely spotless record, one expert said, it won't be easy.

Social Security may not be the first place lawmakers look.

Already, many senior lawmakers are looking for other work or offices to run for.

Seeing a brutal fight ahead, some Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly are looking for a third way out.

Several lawmakers are also looking ahead to 2006 races.

"I want the lawmakers and state officials to look at their telephones and wish they weren't working," he said.

And any two lawmakers will look at the same numbers differently.