Washington in brief

Senate okays extra $1-billion for voting system overhaul

WASHINGTON - Intent on avoiding a repeat of the 2000 presidential election debacle, the Senate has added $1-billion to the president's request for funds to carry out improvements in the national voting system.

The Senate voted 63-31 Thursday to waive budget caps and increase funds for election reform in fiscal year 2004 from $500-million to $1.5-billion.

In all, 19 Republicans supported the increased funding, added to a $90-billion spending bill for Transportation and Treasury Department programs in the budget year that began Oct. 1.

One of those was Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, who said he found himself "in an extremely awkward position" in contesting the budget figure proposed by the president and agreed to by the Senate Appropriations Committee. "This, however, is that very rare instance which I believe warrants providing funding above that provided in the budget."

McConnell and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., were lead Senate sponsors of the Help America Vote Act that President Bush signed into law last October.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell has been undergoing radiation treatments for the past month after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The prognosis for the Colorado Republican is that he will fully recover and the health problem has not deterred him from pursuing his re-election campaign next year, said Campbell's spokeswoman, Camden Hubbard.

Campbell was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1986, won his Senate seat in 1992, and switched parties in 1995. He is the only American Indian in the Senate.

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman said that if elected president, he would tap Republican Sen. John McCain as defense secretary.

Lieberman said on Don Imus' radio program that he would want McCain for the Pentagon post.

McCain's spokesman Marshall Wittmann said: "Sen. McCain appreciates his good friend's tongue-in-cheek offer, but he plans to continue to serve the people of Arizona in the U.S. Senate, working with President Bush in the White House."

WASHINGTON - Democrats say a Senate inquiry into prewar intelligence is ignoring questions about whether the Bush administration misused the intelligence.

The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, said committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wants to place all responsibility for problems on the intelligence agencies "and never get to any other branches of government, in particular the White House."

Roberts was traveling and his spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The dispute renewed an unusual public rift on a committee that traditionally has sought to maintain a nonpartisan appearance. The two senators have clashed before over the scope and structure of the Iraq intelligence inquiry.

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