Lott defends road project funded by Katrina bill

WASHINGTON — The powerful Mississippi Senate delegation is using a mammoth bill funding hurricane relief and the war in Iraq to have taxpayers foot the $700 million bill for closing a just-rebuilt rail line along Mississippi's Gulf Coast.

The track, running east-west through virtually every city and town along the coast, was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. CSX Transportation and its insurers just spent about $300 million repairing it.

Now, Mississippi GOP Sens. Thad Cochran and Trent Lott want to tear it up again and use the right of way to build a new highway along the congested coastline. Cochran is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which approved the project Tuesday as part of a $107 billion-plus measure funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and additional hurricane relief.

Critics are blasting the move as a power play by the Mississippians, accusing them of using the must-pass Iraq and Katrina bill to advance a home-state project that's hardly an emergency. But Mississippi officials say a new road would be important to the future economy of the coast.

Lott vigorously defended the rail-line plan: "I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina."

After altercation, GOP backs Capitol Police

House Republicans, reacting to the confrontation last week between Rep. Cynthia McKinney and a Capitol Police officer she is accused of hitting, introduced a resolution Tuesday to commend the police force for its professionalism.

Democratic leaders did not defend McKinney or her charge of racial profiling. "I don't think any of it justifies hitting a police officer," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a sponsor of the measure, said, "I don't think it's fair to attack the Capitol Police, and I think it's time that we show our support for them."

McKinney, a Georgia Democrat, is alleged to have hit a uniformed police officer who did not recognize her and asked her to stop on her way into a House office building. McKinney, who was not wearing the lapel pin that identifies members of Congress, says she acted in self-defense after the officer inappropriately touched her.

Bush quiet on Snow's future in Cabinet

President Bush dodged questions Tuesday about whether he would keep Treasury Secretary John Snow in his Cabinet but said he was eager to hear recommendations for change from his new chief of staff.

Some staff changes are expected when Joshua Bolten, currently the budget director, moves into the West Wing to replace Andrew Card, whose last day is April 14.

"I told Josh [to] organize the White House in such a way that he is comfortable with and that meets my needs," said Bush. "And my needs are to have good, crisp information so I can make decisions on behalf of the American people."

When a reporter asked Bush whether Snow was expected to remain in the Cabinet, he said the Treasury secretary "has been a valuable member of my administration, and I trust his judgment and appreciate his service." But he did not say whether Snow would stay. Critics have complained that Snow has not convinced the public that the economy is on a healthy upswing.

Also

The deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for allegedly using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl but actually was an undercover detective, authorities said. Brian J. Doyle, 55, of Silver Spring, Md., was arrested on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor.

Compiled from The Associated Press