Conferees from the U.S. House and Senate could issue their report on a 2006 budget resolution as early as this week. Negotiators are working to sort out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation.

There’s reason for serious concern.

The Senate version of the resolution would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, which would have a limited effect on oil production but could endanger one of the country’s greatest, unspoiled natural treasures. The measure is absent in the House version.

The House resolution contains serious cuts in Medicaid funding, which Sen. Susan Collins, among others, was able to keep out of the Senate bill. If House negotiators are successful, they could include cuts in Medicaid and child health insurance programs of between $15 billion and $20 billion.

Maine’s senators split on support for the budget resolution. Collins voted yes – probably to protect the restored funding for Medicaid – and Sen. Olympia Snowe voted no. The resolution barely managed to pass, 51-49.

Ideally, the provision opening up ANWR for drilling should be removed, and the conference report that includes Medicaid cuts doesn’t deserve support in the Senate. It would only take two changed votes to block the resolution, which gives Collins – and, to a lesser degree, Snowe – great power to influence the legislation. They should use it to protect the country’s most vulnerable populations.