Mining legislation reworked by GOP

WASHINGTON — House Republicans have revised controversial legislation that would allow the sale of some public lands for mining, hoping to appease Western senators and governors who have objected to it.

The proposed change to mining law, tucked into a larger budget bill, would overturn an 11-year-old congressional ban that prevents mineral companies from "patenting," or buying, public land at cheap prices if the land contains mineral deposits.

Nevada Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., author of the mining legislation, said Monday he would remove language from the bill that would have allowed the direct sale of some lands that no longer contained minerals. Critics had warned that provision would have allowed a "fire sale" of tens of millions of acres of public lands now used for recreation.

Overhaul sought for pension system

Congress must overhaul the system of insuring private pensions to avoid a possible savings-and-loan-style bailout by taxpayers, the head of the federal agency that backs corporate pensions said Monday.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is not in an immediate cash crunch but eventually will be unable to meet its obligations to retirees if the law is not changed, the agency's executive director, Bradley Belt, said in a speech to an accounting industry conference.

Belt spoke a week after the House appeared to abandon plans to move on major legislation to shore up the private pension system in the waning days of this congressional session. The PBGC, which insures the pensions of 44 million workers, reported last month that its deficit was $22.8 billion in 2005, as big airlines and other companies in bankruptcy dumped pension liabilities.

Deficit rises to $83.1 billion

The federal government's budget deficit rose in November as spending raced ahead of tax receipts. The Treasury Department reported Monday that the deficit totaled $83.1 billion, the highest imbalance ever recorded in November.

For the first two months of the 2006 budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit totaled $130.3 billion, 13.1 percent higher than the $115.2 billion in red ink run up during the same period last year.

New York's Republican Party county leaders recommended Monday that Jeanine Pirro abandon her struggling campaign to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and instead run for state attorney general.

Pirro issued a terse response: "I remain a candidate for U.S. Senate, but I greatly respect the opinion of the county chairs and their confidence in my abilities as a statewide candidate."

The recommendation that Pirro withdraw follows months of disarray in her campaign, from the formal announcement when she lost a page from her speech and stood silent for 32 seconds, to an anemic fund-raising effort.

Compiled from The Associated Press