mr. speaker , reclaiming my time , i thank the gentleman .  obviously he articulates reasons that he believes this bill is an important piece of legislation .  in light of the fact that the speaker has not yet decided who he wants to appoint as conferees , does the gentleman have any thought as to when we might contemplate having the conference committee meet and then , of course , the conference report on the floor ?  i ask that from two perspectives : one , as the representative of the party who would like to know what is going on , as i am sure the gentleman would as well ; and , secondly as an appropriator .  as the gentleman knows , until the conference committee report is adopted , it has the appropriations committees somewhat in limbo as it relates to allocations to the committees and then allowing us to make the 302 ( b ) allocations .  mr. speaker , i yield further to my friend in terms of what expectations he might have as to timing from this point to when we might adopt a budget , in light of the fact it is my understanding from the staff of the gentleman from california ( mr. lewis )  that there is hope that we will start to mark up bills sometime in mid-may .  i do not know whether the majority leader has the same understanding or not .  