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Washington in brief
House-Senate talks produce 2 spending bills
By wire services
Published July 27, 2005
WASHINGTON - House Republicans agreed to subsidize a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall as lawmakers closed out final agreements on the first two spending bills for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
Negotiators also approved a significant cut to the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency and provided what they hope will be the final payment on a $500-million-plus addition to the U.S. Capitol complex. They also approved $1.5-billion in emergency health care funding for veterans.
The bill included $10-million for the King memorial, to be built next to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.
On another bill, a $3.8-billion measure funding Congress' own budget, negotiators approved another $42-million for the Capitol visitors center project, which has ballooned in cost to more than five times its original estimate.
Senate revises line of succession
WASHINGTON - The Senate approved a bill Tuesday to raise the homeland security secretary from last to eighth place in the presidential line of succession, just after the attorney general.
The bill passed without objection just before the chamber adjourned. The companion House bill is pending before the Judiciary and Government Reform committees.
If the bill also passes the House, the order of those in line to assume the presidency if President Bush is unable to serve would be: Vice President Dick Cheney; House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Treasury Secretary John Snow; Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton; and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
Panel approves Hughes' nomination
WASHINGTON - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the nomination of Karen Hughes, a former political adviser to President Bush, as the State Department's top public relations official.
The Senate is expected to complete the confirmation process this week before leaving for its August recess.
Hughes' main assignment as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs is to combat anti-American sentiment around the world.
[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:06:11]
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