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House Republicans set economic path

WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders on Tuesday outlined a spring and summer economic agenda centered on cutting taxes, slicing government red tape and reducing lawsuits.

On the other side of the Capitol, Democratic leaders accused the Bush administration of failing the economy by ignoring the loss of manufacturing jobs and not enforcing trade laws.

The Republicans did not go into specifics, although House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, mentioned legislation to encourage private sector research and development. GOP Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the House would take up a free trade agreement with Australia.

Already planned for the next several weeks are several attempts to make permanent the tax cuts Congress has passed in recent years, including one eliminating the so-called marriage penalty and another maintaining the 10 percent lowest income tax bracket.

In general, they named eight general areas: health care security, bureaucratic red tape, lifelong learning, fair trade, tax relief, energy security, spurring innovation and ending lawsuit abuse.

The Republican-dominated House has addressed many of the issues, only to see legislation stall in the Senate, where Democrats have greater ability to block bills they don't like.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and three Democratic governors, meanwhile, blamed the Bush administration's economic policies for what they called the hemorrhaging of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said 2.8-million manufacturing jobs have been lost since Bush took office and 1-million jobs have moved overseas.

FLORENCE, S.C. - Rescuers searched a thickly wooded swamp Tuesday for an Army helicopter that vanished during a training flight with three soldiers aboard.

The UH-60 Black Hawk was reported missing while flying in rain and thunderstorms Monday night from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Florence.

There were no distress calls from the helicopter, and no signals from the radios that crew members carry on their flight-survival vests, the military said.

CARROLLTON, Ga. - A 12-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in the killing of an 8-year-old girl who disappeared during a bike ride to a neighboring friend's home.

The boy was charged with murder in the slaying of Amy Michelle Yates, whose body was found Monday night in tall weeds about 100 feet outside a mobile home park. Her bike was found between two abandoned mobile homes within view of her home.

"We have arrested a local 12-year-old male and charged him with murder" in juvenile court, said Carroll County Chief Deputy Sheriff Brad Robinson.

Sheriff's officials gave no other details.

BRYANT CASE TESTIMONY: A nurse who examined the alleged victim in the sexual assault case against Kobe Bryant was questioned by attorneys for more than three hours Tuesday behind closed doors. The woman, a sexual assault nurse at Valley View Hospital, was preceded on the witness stand by three young men whose identities were not known.