After some others had given up the fiscal 2009 budget resolution for dead, House and Senate negotiators now think it’s possible to have a deal in place by the end of next week.

The question is whether it will matter much in the long run.

With a final budget resolution (H Con Res 31, S Con Res 70) adopted, the House could start moving spending bills. But some lawmakers think there could be little, if any, appropriations process this year.

Jerry Lewis of California, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday that Chairman David R. Obey, D-Wis., told him that the administration won’t negotiate with Democrats on any fiscal 2009 bills, and, as a result, Obey would “forget about having ’09 bills go forward.”

Obey isn’t commenting.

But John P. Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said there’s no guarantee Congress will even send President Bush a fiscal 2009 Pentagon funding bill.

“I would say it’s about 50/50,” he said.

Leaders in both chambers have said they will wait for a new president before finishing the fiscal 2009 bills if President Bush doesn’t move off his threat to veto bills that exceed his request. Congress could simply pass a continuing resolution before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year that would keep the government funded into next year.

Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., would not commit to votes on all 12 spending bills this year, saying “it’s still being discussed.”

Regardless, budget leaders are pushing ahead and are cautiously optimistic about a deal that would set up votes on a budget conference report the week of May 12.

“We still got some differences,” said Budget Chairman John M. Spratt Jr., D-S.C. Chief among them is how much to provide for the annual appropriations bills. The House wants to spend $3.5 billion more than the Senate.