House plan cuts State Department funds
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Tuesday proposed cutting the State Department's budget to protest its slow response in producing documents related to the investigation of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
The House Appropriations Committee said a budget plan for the State Department withholds nearly $700 million -- or 15 percent of the agency's operational funds -- until "requirements related to proper management of Freedom of Information Act and electronic communications are met."
The chairman of the Benghazi panel, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, and other Republicans have complained that the State Department has delayed providing emails and other documents involving former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and some of her top staff members.
Gowdy and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., threatened last month to withhold some State Department funding to ensure that officials move more quickly to comply with the committee's requests for documents.
Budget bill adds $37B for Pentagon
WASHINGTON -- A House panel Tuesday approved using $37 billion in unrequested war money to match President Barack Obama's 7 percent budget boost for the military. The move came over the opposition of Democrats and the White House, who argue that domestic programs deserve equal treatment.
The Appropriations Committee action came as it approved a $579 billion Pentagon spending bill that would fund a 2.3 percent pay increase for the military and add new money to boost air reconnaissance.
The bill advances toward a floor debate later this month, even as measures that fund the departments of Commerce, Justice, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development are moving ahead this week -- headlong into twin administration veto threats issued on Tuesday.
The Pentagon funding measure typically enjoys widespread support, but this year's version is trapped by a broader budget involving a $1 trillion budget "cap" mandated by the return of automatic spending cuts that are the punishment for Washington's failure to replace them with other deficit-cutting policies. Such so-called sequestration cuts would reduce agency operating budgets by about $90 billion below levels originally called for by a 2011 budget accord.
U.S. to buy more antibiotic-free meat
WASHINGTON -- The White House opened its first summit Tuesday on fighting antibiotic resistance, and President Barack Obama kicked off the day-long, mostly private meeting by directing federal departments and agencies to begin a process to buy meat and poultry raised with "responsible antibiotic use."
In an announcement the White House posted Tuesday, it said the General Services Administration will be looking for vendors to offer antibiotic-free meat and poultry as an option in government cafeterias that it manages. The administration set 2020 as the deadline for each agency to create "a preference" for awarding such contracts, to the extent that they're available and cost-effective.
The Presidential Food Service, which provides food to the president and his family, caters state dinners and operates the White House dining rooms, is also committing to serve meats and poultry that have not been treated with hormones and antibiotics.
Mississippi House seat stays with GOP
JACKSON, Miss. -- The GOP held on to a Mississippi congressional seat in a special election runoff Tuesday in which a Republican district attorney handily defeated a fellow attorney and Democratic political consultant who was seeking his first public office.
Trent Kelly will serve most of a two-year term started by Republican Rep. Alan Nunnelee, who was first elected in 2010 and won a third term in 2014 as he struggled with health problems. Nunnelee was 56 when he died of brain cancer in February.
Kelly, 49, of Saltillo is district attorney for seven counties, about one-third of north Mississippi's 1st Congressional District. He was supported by Republicans, including Gov. Phil Bryant and Nunnelee's widow, Tori.
The Democrat, 34-year-old Walter Zinn of Pontotoc, had sought to become the third black congressman in Mississippi since Reconstruction. But with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Kelly had 70 percent of the vote and Zinn had 30 percent.
With Kelly joining the House, Republicans will hold 246 seats and Democrats will hold 188.
A Section on 06/03/2015