Washington ? On the eve of a showdown, Senate Republicans expressed confidence Tuesday they had the votes to assure final passage of $39.7 billion in deficit cuts, and Vice President Dick Cheney hurried home from the Middle East to make it so.

With lawmakers increasingly eager to adjourn for the holidays, another close call loomed on a second Bush administration priority, legislation to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Democrats dug in for a filibuster, and Republicans scratched for the 60 votes needed to prevail.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., agreed on one point late in the day – that they would try and wrap up major business for the year today. That left the fate of the Patriot Act unclear. A Democratic-led filibuster blocked a renewal of the anti-terrorism measure last week, with critics of the bill demanding demanding changes to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans.

Reid said he expected a series of close votes on both the budget bill and ANWR, but stopped short of predicting Democrats would prevail on either. While they had little hope of defeating the budget measure, some Democrats held out hope they could force minor changes that would lessen its impact on the poor and force the House to vote again.

Republicans also refrained from public forecasts of victory. Still, lawmakers and other officials expressed confidence they would prevail on the deficit-cutting measure at least. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying a few votes remained somewhat in doubt.

These officials said as many as five of 55 Republicans appeared ready to defect on the bill, which would make the first significant changes in federal benefit programs in nearly a decade.

The bill would trim $39.7 billion off deficits over the next five years, roughly 2.5 percent of projected shortfalls totaling $1.6 trillion. Some of the savings come from a broad swath of federal programs that conservatives have long wanted to trim.

Home health care payments under Medicare would be frozen at current levels for a year, for example, and Medicaid regulations would be changed to make it harder for the elderly to qualify for federal nursing home benefits by turning assets over to their children.

Lender subsidies are reduced as part of an attempt to squeeze $12.6 billion from student loan programs. Another provision raises $3.6 billion for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that protects certain pension plans. The money would come from an increase in the premium employers pay for each covered worker or retiree, and from a fee on companies that end their pension plans.

Billions more would come from programs unrelated to benefit programs. The legislation assumes $10 billion in federal receipts from the sale of part of the analog spectrum, for example.