WASHINGTON

SENATORS REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT ON PATRIOT ACT

A band of Senate Republican holdouts reached agreement yesterday with the White House on minor changes in the Patriot Act, hoping to clear the way for passage of anti-terror legislation stalled in a dispute over protection of civil liberties.

Senator Sununu, a Republican of New Hampshire, and three other GOP lawmakers – all of whom joined with Democrats last year to block a long-term extension of the law – were to announce the accord later yesterday.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan pre-empted them, saying the changes “continue to build upon the civil liberties protections that are in place but do so in a way that doesn’t compromise our national security priorities.”

“We’re pleased that this important legislation is moving forward,” he said.

– Associated Press

McCAIN LEADS EFFORT TO CURTAIL EARMARKS

Ten senators led by Senator McCain took on the Senate’s much maligned practice of inserting individual members’ special projects, often without the knowledge of their colleagues, into larger spending bills.

The “Pork-Barrel Reduction Act,” introduced yesterday by eight Republicans and two Democrats, is the latest in a rash of proposals promoting ways to restore integrity to the political process in the wake of lobbying and ethics scandals.

Mr. McCain’s bill would allow senators to raise points of order against special projects, or earmarks, that are attached to spending bills without having been approved by the relevant committee. Under the procedure, which also applies to policy changes embedded in spending bills, 60 votes would be needed to override the point of order and keep the provision in the bill.

The measure also would require that earmarks be described in detail and the sponsor identified. House-Senate compromise bills would have to be made public at least 48 hours before the Senate considers them.

– Associated Press

DEAN LIKENS BUSH TO THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, yesterday likened President Bush to President Ahmadinejad of Iran during an interview with a host of “Good Morning America,” Charles Gibson, on the ABC television network.

“All we ask is that we not turn into a country like Iran, where the president can do anything he wants,” Dr. Dean said.

The Republican National Committee quickly responded to Dr. Dean’s comments yesterday, calling the remarks “reckless and wrong” and challenging members of the Democratic Party to question his “latest wild-eyed attack.”

“By equating the United States of America to an oppressive regime that promotes anti-Semitism, suppresses women, and restricts free speech, Howard Dean continues to lower the bar for political attacks,” the press secretary for the RNC, Tracey Schmitt, said in a statement available at gop.com.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

HEALTH

FDA PANEL URGES SPECIAL WARNINGS ON ATTENTION DEFICIT DRUGS

Ritalin and other stimulant drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder should carry the strongest warning that they may be linked to an increased risk of death and injury, federal health advisers said yesterday.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted in favor of the “black box” warning after hearing about the deaths of 25 people, including 19 children, who had taken the drugs. The vote of the Drug Safety and Risk Management advisory committee was 8-7,with one abstention. One committee member, Dr. Curt Furberg, a professor of public health sciences at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, said it would be “inappropriate, unethical behavior” not to disclose that there was uncertainty about the safety of the drugs. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory committees but typically does.

“The committee plainly wanted to tell us certain things ought to be in labeling in a more forceful way,” the director of the FDA’s Office of Medical Policy, Dr. Robert Temple, told reporters after the meeting.

– Associated Press