Student Handout Number 2 “Conference Committees: where bills often go to die” Kim Abrams  Associated Press Published 7/06/2002 “WASHINGTON  -  Picture  this:  A  union  and  a  company  cannot agree on a new contract and a strike looms. But bargaining typically continues. In  most  cases,  deals  are  struck.  Business  goes  on.  But  imagine  that scenario in the U.S. Capitol, where negotiations far more often lead nowhere.  Prospective  laws,  passed  in  different  form  by  the  House and Senate, simply die. That's  what  can  happen   in  congressional  conference  committees   - which consist of representatives of the House and Senate, each side arguing  for  its  own  version  of  the  bill.  That's  where  the  legislative differences are resolved so a bill can become law. Several  major  bills  this  year have been sent to conference, never to reappear,  as  the  Republican-controlled  House  and  the  Democratic- led Senate jockey for political advantage before the fall elections. For instance, the Senate joined the House in moving to overhaul the nation's  bankruptcy  system  11  months  ago.  But  a  deal  to  resolve differences  between  the  rival  versions  of  the  legislation  still  seems far off. Both  bodies  last  year  passed  bills  to  give  patients  greater  leverage against HMOs. Only now, after private talks between congressional leaders  and  the  Bush  administration  failed  to  resolve  differences over  when  and  where  patients  may  sue  HMOs,  is  Senate  Majority Leader    Tom    Daschle    (D-S.D.)    talking    about    naming    Senate representatives to a conference. The  House  in  December  and  the  Senate  in  April  passed  measures designed to improve the nation's election system to avoid a repeat of the  2000  presidential  election  problems.  The  two  sides  are  still arguing over how much power the federal government should wield over  states  and  whether    tough  anti- fraud   measures   hurt   minority voters.