WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday that he would not act on President Bush's campaign proposal for a fundamental restructuring of Medicare but would forge a consensus this year on legislation adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare.

Grassley said he would try to get the committee to approve drug benefits and "incremental changes in Medicare" within six months.

"I plan to work with Finance Committee members on both sides of the aisle and with our president to get something done before August," Grassley said. Drug benefits should be "part of Medicare," not a freestanding supplement, and should be available and affordable to every older American, whether in an urban or a rural area, he said.

College GOP head called harasser

The Republican National Committee is investigating allegations that the head of the party's national college campus operation sexually harassed female colleagues and misused party funds.

Three women -- Kathleen Kirst, Jennifer Gorski and Youmna Salameh -- alleged the misconduct in affidavits obtained by the Associated Press.

The women maintained that Scott Stewart, chairman of the College Republican National Committee, made unwanted advances and regularly spoke in sexually graphic terms to and about female employees.

Also . . .

BANKRUPTCY BILL: Legislation that would make it harder for people to erase credit card and other debts in bankruptcy court cleared the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The panel voted 19-8, with the majority Republicans prevailing, to send the bill to the full House.

CLINTON BOOK DEAL: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has received approval from the Senate Ethics Committee for her $8-million book deal, she said Wednesday. She did not have to obtain the committee's approval for the deal, which was reached before she was sworn in as a senator. She chose to submit the matter to remove questions surrounding it, aides said.

DEMOCRATIC TAX CUTS: Congress' top Democrats planned to lay out their own broad principles for cutting taxes today, after weeks of attacking President Bush's $1.6-trillion, 10-year plan as being too big and tilted toward the rich.

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