WASHINGTON — By a 75-19 vote Tuesday, the Senate reversed President Bush’s cuts to education, health research and grants to local communities.
The Senate’s huge health and education spending bill totals over $600 billion and reverses reductions sought by Bush to health research, special education and funding for grants to community groups that help the poor, among others.
The Senate measure, which exceeds Bush’s budget by more than $10 billion, must be reconciled with a companion House measure passed in July before the legislation can be sent to Bush.
Another children’s insurance bill
House Democrats, convinced that President Bush blundered by vetoing an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, plan to approve a similar bill this week even as the administration offered new concessions Tuesday. The Democrats’ revised bill would reduce the number of adults and higher-income families potentially eligible for the health insurance subsidies but doesn’t budge from the original $35 billion pricetag. Bush had recommended a spending increase of $5 billion over the next five years. On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt hinted that Bush could recommend about $15 billion instead.
U.S. may delay missile system
The Bush administration has told Moscow it may delay activation of a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Europe until it has “definitive proof” that Iran poses a missile threat, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
No House censure for Rep. Stark
Republicans failed in an effort Tuesday to have the House censure Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who said in a congressional speech last week that U.S. troops are being sent to Iraq “to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.” Without debate, the House voted 196-173 to kill the proposal to censure Stark for “his despicable conduct.” Stark apologized Tuesday on the House floor for making the remark.
Climate testimony cut, agency says
The White House severely edited congressional testimony given Tuesday by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the effect of climate change on health, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks, according to two sources familiar with the documents. A CDC official said that while it is customary for testimony to be changed in a White House review, these changes were particularly “heavy-handed,” with the document cut from its original 14 pages; it was six pages as presented to a Senate environment committee.
Registration of fertilizer sales
The House voted Tuesday to require the registration of sales and purchases of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which has been converted into the explosives by terrorists. The bill orders producers, sellers and some purchasers of ammonium nitrate to register with the Department of Homeland Security and makes producers and sellers maintain sales records.
N.Y.: ‘Preppie Killer’ in drug sting
Robert Chambers, 41, the so-called “Preppie Killer,” who served 15 years in prison for strangling a woman in Central Park during what he said was rough sex, was in jail Tuesday after police said he repeatedly sold undercover officers cocaine out of his apartment. The 1986 slaying became the story of a privileged, prep school youth gone bad.
Maine: Birth control scaled back
A Portland school board will consider limiting student access to birth control at a middle school. Earlier this month, the Portland School Committee approved a plan that made King Middle School the first in Maine to offer a full range of contraception to students in grades six through eight. A new proposal would allow parents to block access to prescription contraceptives and would limit contraceptives to students at least 14 years old.
Florida: Discovery lifts off
Shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven thundered into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday after NASA determined that a small patch of ice on fuel tank plumbing posed no danger. Most if not all of the ice shook loose when the booster rockets and engines ignited. Astronauts will arrive at the international space station on Thursday.
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