Legislation United States

A proposed $1-billion cut in NASA's budget drew fire from members of Congress and scientists who warned in Washington that it would decimate the U.S. space agency. "Enacting these cuts is irresponsible and unacceptable," said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), whose state includes NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA chief Daniel Goldin has said as many as three of the agency's regional centers would close if the budget cuts go through, with significant layoffs likely.

Twenty-six-year-old Brendan had high hopes of success when he came here from his native Ireland as that country's economy turned sour in 1988. America is "a country where you can come and go-get-it," he says. "I want to work for myself. I want to move." But for the past 2 1/2 years, Brendan has been stymied. Although he has two years of college, he can't qualify for much more than a bartender's job. He worries about filling out medical forms.

The television industry plans to formally submit its ratings plan to the Federal Communications Commission next week. Although FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said he expects NBC--which refused to sign on to the agreement--to submit its alternative plan for review, NBC executives said in interviews this week that the network has no intention of doing so.

In an indirect show of support for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, the House voted Wednesday to approve a 5.4% cost-of-living increase in benefits paid to disabled veterans and their survivors. The vote was 421 to 0. Several advocates said that passage of the bill would send a reassuring message to the troops participating in Operation Desert Storm that Congress will not forget them when the war with Iraq is over.

Before the wildly popular Tickle Me Elmo doll hit the market, testers at Tyco Toys subjected it to a battery of grueling exams. They scratched its eyes to check for lead in the paint. They pummeled, yanked, contorted and poked, all to ensure that the doll met government safety standards for children. Four-slice toasters, bean bag chairs and thousands of other consumer products must comply with government safety requirements before ever landing on a shelf.

Frank Sinatra Jr. was only 19 when he was kidnapped, held hostage and released after his famous father paid a $240,000 ransom. Now the entertainer is trying to prevent his kidnappers from making a much greater windfall from the story of the crime. Sinatra's success will depend on how the California Supreme Court, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court, decides a constitutional challenge to the state's so-called "Son of Sam" law, named after the serial killer who terrorized New York in 1977.

A painfully divided House of Representatives approved the North American Free Trade Agreement by an unexpectedly large margin Wednesday night, ending a hard-fought battle that grew into a referendum on the fundamental changes sweeping the American economy. The vote was 234 to 200, 16 more than the 218 needed for passage. The Senate is expected to act on the measure within days. Passage there is not in doubt.

The story is powerful, almost mythic, yet tragically true. A young woman goes to a fine university in a rural community and, asleep in her dorm room during her freshman year, is raped and beaten by an intruder. He strangles her with a Slinky toy. The shattered mother, Connie Clery, stands at the end of her driveway a week after the funeral and tells a friend: Something must be done. A wrong must be righted.

The U.S. Senate recently rejected a proposal by President Clinton to provide funding to help renovate crumbling school buildings around the country. You really have to wonder when these senators last visited a public school. I'd sure like to take one of them along on a quick walk through my own, since a tour of a school in a relatively affluent area only represents the tip of the iceberg.

A partisan House approved Republican welfare legislation Friday that would fundamentally change six decades of New Deal and Great Society poverty programs by ending guarantees of federal assistance and transferring most authority over social spending to the states. On a fourth day of emotional and at times fierce debate, only nine Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the Personal Responsibility Act, a central element of the House GOP "contract with America."

President Bush urged the Senate on Saturday to move swiftly to approve legislation that would expand his authority to negotiate international trade agreements. In his weekly radio address, Bush said the trade promotion authority "would give me the flexibility to negotiate with other countries to open their markets and get the best deals for American producers and workers." The president also signaled support in principle for providing help for U.S.

At a time when Congress is stalemated on a spate of issues, one measure is an eye-catching exception: a major rewrite of federal farm policy. While most other major legislation seems doomed to election-year oblivion, congressional negotiators put the finishing touches Friday on a bill that would increase agriculture subsidies a staggering 70% over the next decade.

A campaign by airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits has gained the support of two key House Republicans despite the opposition of Bush administration officials. House aviation subcommittee chairman John L. Mica of Florida and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Don Young of Alaska are scheduled to introduce legislation Tuesday to allow trained pilots to carry guns.

The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would revamp the nation's energy policy, paving the way for talks with the House on one of President Bush's domestic priorities. The bill is a mix of relatively modest steps geared more toward promoting conservation and the use of alternative power sources. The House bill, taking its cue from Bush, is tilted more toward increasing production.

Breaking a stubborn impasse, House and Senate negotiators reached agreement Thursday on the outlines of a farm bill that would vastly increase federal spending on crop subsidies and conservation programs. The breakthrough came a day after President Bush traveled to South Dakota and called on Congress to reach a quick compromise on the legislation, which passed the House and Senate in significantly different forms.

The House is poised this week to approve legislation that would ease donation-reporting rules for a broad class of political groups, opening a new front in the campaign finance debate. Critics say the measure, coming just weeks after the enactment of a landmark law to limit donations to national political parties, could encourage certain groups to receive huge contributions from wealthy donors while escaping effective scrutiny.

Five years ago, a conservative analyst named David M. Mason penned a critique of the campaign reform movement titled "Why Congress Can't Ban Soft Money." Earlier this year, as lawmakers sought to prove him wrong, he attacked elements of their reform bill as "unworkable or unenforceable."

As taxpayers approach their annual day of reckoning, House Republicans plan to act on two bills in the next two weeks that would bolster taxpayer rights and make permanent last year's major tax cuts. The votes, on either side of April 15, will enable the GOP to spotlight its stance on taxes in an election year when many voters are worried about a still-fragile economy. Both bills are favored to win approval in the Republican-led House, though the vote on tax cuts could be close.

While Democrats launched a final push Monday for legislation to limit the influence of big-money donors, party officials said one contributor has given several million dollars this year to help build a national Democratic headquarters. The gift, when confirmed in federal disclosure reports due to become public next month, will apparently be the largest of the past decade to either of the major national parties.

For weeks, President Bush and Democratic leaders have framed the energy legislation pending in Congress this week as a form of homeland defense: a way to reduce America's reliance on oil from the turbulent Middle East. But now, the Senate appears poised to reject the principal ideas of each side for maximizing America's energy independence. In a form of mutually assured destruction, the central proposals for increasing both domestic energy production and conservation look doomed.