As Skyline News went to press, Congressional leaders and President Clinton were continuing negotiations over portions of the Federal fiscal year 2001 budget that have not been enacted. Due to these ongoing discussions, agreement on the bill to provide relief from the Balanced Budget Act's (BBA) Medicare and Medicaid cuts for hospitals, continuing care providers, and Medicare+Choice plans -- known as the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA) -- has not yet been reached. On Friday, December 8, 2000, Congress was poised to pass another continuing resolution to keep the government running through the weekend, giving negotiators more time to reach final agreement. Despite nearly unanimous Congressional support for enacting BIPA before the end of the year, enactment of the bill has repeatedly been frustrated by negotiations on other, unrelated issues. Last week, members of Congress made a number of statements calling for immediate enactment of BIPA. On December 5, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) stated that the bill would happen "one way or another," and signaled an agreement to separate the bill from more controversial legislation to which it had been attached, including a tax bill. On December 6, 2000, a number of Republican and Democratic senators participated in a BBA relief forum in which providers from across the country called for the enactment of BIPA as well as a number of other provisions that the White House supports, including Medicaid enhancements. The President has continued to call for improvements in the bill, including provisions to provide Medicaid coverage for certain legal immigrants, provisions to streamline the Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment processes, improvements in BIPA's teaching hospital provisions, and more accountability for Medicare+Choice plans. It was unclear, as Skyline News went to press, whether Congressional leaders would be willing to accede to the President's requested improvements, although the leaders appeared to be conciliatory following a series of meetings with the President and White House staff. GNYHA continues to work with the New York Congressional Delegation, White House staff, and others to ensure enactment of BBA relief this year.