Washington in brief

House has its own tax package

WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders ignored White House pressure for quick passage of a Senate bill to expand child tax credits for low-income families and scheduled a vote on a package that also would give bigger tax cuts to high-income couples and members of the armed forces.

Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday the House will use the Senate's bill, which would send rebate checks of up to $400 per child to 6.5-million low-income families this summer, as a vehicle for language to make tax cuts President Bush signed last month less temporary.

"If they want the child tax credit, they ought to be able to have it in a package that actually creates jobs and helps the economy grow," said DeLay, R-Texas. DeLay said the expanded Senate bill will come before the House on Thursday. After passage, it would have to return to the Senate.

DeLay's spokesman said House Republican leaders are not ignoring the president but are following his instructions by acting quickly to pass a bill that expands the child credit for low-income families.

Asked about DeLay's comments, the White House stuck to its position that President Bush wants to see the child tax credit passed without other cuts attached.

"The president thinks it's a good idea to pass the legislation," said spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

The House vote will be on an $82-billion package that, like the Senate's, expands the child tax credit for low-income families. Low-wage workers who make between $10,500 and $27,000 could claim a refund worth 15 percent of their income over $10,500.

House Republicans want to extend the full benefit also to married couples who make up to $150,000. The benefit currently starts to disappear for couples that make $110,000 or more.

WASHINGTON - Congress' top budget analyst warned Tuesday that the government is on track this year for a record deficit exceeding $400-billion, which provides fresh fodder for President Bush and Democrats to use in their battle over taxes and spending.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had estimated last month that the 2003 shortfall would surpass $300-billion. But that was before lawmakers approved fresh tax cuts for families and investors plus aid for cash-strapped states, projected to cost $61-billion this year alone. It also did not fully reflect the economy's malaise, which has constricted revenue.

WASHINGTON - High natural gas prices are likely to last into next year, and could weaken some key American industries' ability to compete, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Tuesday.

Greenspan stopped short of suggesting that tight natural gas supplies, which have caused prices to more than double from last year, might thwart economic recovery.

Industries that heavily rely on natural gas hope that prices will decline, but Greenspan said market signals suggest tight supplies and high prices will persist because - unlike oil - the U.S. gas market is unable to draw on world supplies easily to meet surges in demand.

Greenspan said that already the increase in gas prices has "put significant segments of the North American gas-using industry in a weakened competitive position" against industries overseas.

Attorney General John Ashcroft will allow gay and lesbian Justice Department employees to hold an annual gathering at agency headquarters if they foot the bill, a move critics said Tuesday was a clumsy reversal of a previous decision.

Officials with the group DOJ Pride said last week that they were told the awards ceremony could not be held in the agency's Great Hall next Wednesday.

But agency spokesman Mark Corallo said the intention was not to block the group from holding the event, only to make it clear it would not be officially sponsored by the department. That means the group's members must pay any costs themselves.

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