House advances plan for new farm bill
WASHINGTON – A House plan to make major cuts to food stamps would be scaled back under a bipartisan agreement on a massive farm bill, a near end to a more than two-year fight that has threatened to hurt rural lawmakers in an election year.
The measure announced Monday by the House and Senate Agriculture committees preserves food stamp benefits for most Americans who receive them and continues generous subsidies for farmers. The House was expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, with the Senate following shortly after.
The compromise was expected to cut food stamps by about $800 million a year, or around 1 percent. The House in September passed legislation cutting 5 percent from the $80 billion-a-year program. The House bill also would have allowed states to implement broad new work requirements for food stamp recipients. That has been scaled back to a test program in 10 states.
The Democratic-led Senate had twice passed a bill with only $400 million in annual food stamp cuts, and the White House had threatened to veto the House bill.
Legislature merges probes in traffic case
TRENTON, N.J. – The New Jersey Legislature on Monday merged what had been separate but parallel investigations into allegations that Gov. Chris Christie’s aides manufactured traffic jams as political payback.
The state Assembly and Senate voted to establish a joint bipartisan committee with power to subpoena people and correspondence related to the traffic scandal and other matters.
The panel will continue the investigation into allegations that top Christie aides blocked two traffic lanes approaching the George Washington Bridge, creating hours-long backups in the town at the base of the span to send a message to the Democratic mayor there.
“What we are learning is disturbing, and we don’t yet have the full story. But we will get the bottom of the lane closings by political appointees and the role of the governor’s office,” said Sen. Loretta Weinberg, co-chair of the new committee.
Chicago lawyer Reid Schar will serve as special counsel to the panel of eight Democrats and four Republicans.
U.S. ship leaves port to get chemical arms
WASHINGTON – A U.S. cargo ship departed Monday on a mission to destroy dozens of containers of deadly chemical weapons being removed from Syria as part of international efforts to dismantle that country’s poison gas and nerve agent program.
Defense officials said the MV Cape Ray, which was loaded with sophisticated equipment, left Monday night for the roughly two-week trip across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean. The mission was delayed briefly when there was an electrical problem with one of the ship’s two main engines.
The Virginia-based Cape Ray is headed to the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, where the Syrian chemicals will be transferred to the ship. The chemicals include raw materials for making sarin and mustard gas and they will be destroyed on board the Cape Ray at sea.
Associated Press
