America Strikes: Washington

Senate backs tax breaks for victims

WASHINGTON -- Families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks would get tax breaks under legislation the Senate approved Friday.

The 10-year, $430-million bill, which passed on a voice vote, heads back to the House, where a less expansive version was approved shortly after the attacks. Under the Senate bill, people who died in the attacks would not owe income taxes in the year of death and at least one previous year.

Any income taxes paid during those years would be refunded. Also refunded would be two years' worth of the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare.

Lawmakers want hearings on military tribunals

Black lawmakers and some of the House's more liberal white Democrats and conservative Republicans are urging hearings into President Bush's decision to try by military tribunals foreigners charged with acts of terror.

"They're literally dismantling justice and the justice system as we know it," Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Friday. She suggested the effects could "spill over into domestic affairs."

Conservative Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, said he objected to the president acting without consulting Congress or waiting to see whether recently expanded investigative powers are sufficient to fight terrorism. Barr, a former federal prosecutor, said he was disturbed by the "fundamental changes to federal law and procedure" in the order establishing procedures for detention and trial by military courts of foreign suspects.

U.S. to issue first war bonds since 1940s

The Treasury Department is going to issue war bonds, the first since World War II, to help pay for the fight against terrorism and for relief efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill signed off on the plan Friday, after getting a letter from a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging that "Patriot Bonds" be issued.

The department said the bonds would be designated Series EE savings bonds and sold as Patriot Bonds through financial institutions and the Bureau of the Public Debt. The current rate in effect through April is 4.07 percent. The bonds will be available in denominations ranging from $50 to $10,000.

Also . . .

SPENDING BILL DELAYED: Republicans postponed a House vote Friday on a $20-billion antiterrorism package until after Thanksgiving under pressure from Democrats wanting to add billions to the measure. Also, New York GOP lawmakers reached an agreement with White House officials for an additional $1.5-billion for the city.

FIRST LADY ON RADIO: First lady Laura Bush will deliver today's weekly White House radio address to start a campaign highlighting Taliban oppression of women.

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