J James Exon

John Tower's nomination as defense secretary erupted into a fierce partisan battle today as Democratic opposition mounted and Republican leader Bob Dole said the matter is "of minute-by-minute concern" to President Bush. The Senate Armed Services Committee met in private for the second straight day to review a lengthy FBI report on Tower, and leaders said a public vote might be held later in the day.

Three weeks after it dealt a fatal blow to the nomination of Defense Secretary-designate John Tower, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend approval of six-term Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.), President Bush's second choice, for the job. Cheney's "high standards of personal conduct and integrity would help to restore public confidence in the integrity of defense management," the committee declared in a report sent to senators after the panel's 20-0 vote.

The Senate, in a crushing defeat for President Reagan, today completed a congressional override of his veto of popular $20-billion legislation to combat water pollution. The clean water bill became law after a 86-14 Senate roll call a day after the House, with most Republicans ignoring Reagan's call for fiscal restraint, voted 401-26 to override the veto. (Story, Page 16.) Thirteen Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. J. James Exon of Nebraska, voted to uphold the veto.

Tritium is a radioactive gas used to boost the destructive yield of nuclear weapons. Thanks to strategic arms reduction and U.S. elimination of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, we need less tritium than we once did. Nonetheless Secretary of Energy James D. Watkins may announce this week that a tritium-producing reactor, the K-Reactor, at Savannah River, Ga., which was shut down for safety reasons in 1988, will be restarted. Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.

Six Democratic senators, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of a "lackadaisical" attitude, today urged Mark Fowler, its chairman, to hold a series of hearings on broadcaster Ted Turner's bid to buy the CBS television network. In a letter to Fowler, the senators said their concern over the proposed acquisition had been heightened by the FCC's announcement last week that it planned to conduct an informal one-day hearing on the matter.

Moving with lightning speed, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 20 to 0 today to approve Defense Secretary-designate Dick Cheney, sending his nomination on to an expected easy Senate confirmation on Friday. The vote, accompanied by praise for Cheney's "high standards of personal conduct and integrity," came exactly one week after the Senate rejected the nomination of former Texas Sen. John Tower and handed President Bush a major defeat in his first high-stakes clash with Congress.

Congress should give the Federal Railroad Administration authority to institute a mandatory drug and alcohol testing program comparable to the one recently adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, rail administrator John H. Riley said Tuesday. Under current law, the agency's enforcement authority extends only to rail companies and does not cover individual railway employees.

Six Democratic senators on Monday urged Mark Fowler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to hold a series of thorough hearings on broadcaster Ted Turner's bid to buy the CBS television network. In a letter to Fowler, the senators said their concern over the proposed acquisition had been heightened by the FCC's announcement last week that it planned to conduct an informal one-day hearing on the matter.

In another blow to Democrats' chances of regaining control of the Senate in 1996, Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.) is expected to announce today that he will not seek reelection. Pryor, one of President Clinton's closest allies in Congress, would be the fifth Senate Democrat this year to announce his retirement. A moderate Democrat who has been popular among his colleagues, Pryor was first elected to the Senate in 1978. He suffered a heart attack in April, 1991, and underwent bypass surgery in 1992.

The Senate refused today to increase spending for "Star Wars," setting up another potential fight with President Reagan over the budget for his cherished missile defense program. The chamber voted down, 50 to 44, a move to add $500 million to the "Star Wars" budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. "This is a preview of the presidential campaign," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a supporter of the increase, told his colleagues during the brief debate.