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AP - 2 hours, 30 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The White House and its GOP allies in Congress will have to be creative if they're going to use spending cuts to defray the cost of Hurricane Katrina rescue and recovery efforts. Many of the ideas circulating are likely political nonstarters like delaying the start of the Medicare prescription drug benefit or favorite White House cuts that have previously been rejected by Congress — some of them several years in a row.

House conservatives called for broad spending cuts yesterday to offset emergency funding in response to Hurricane Katrina, a move that triggered heightened friction between leadership officials and the right wing of the GOP conference. The tensions illustrate a growing divide within the party about how to handle hurricane relief as another storm heads for the battered Gulf Coast region. Yesterday’s rally was an echo of the so-called Republican Revolution, when the current majority first swept into power behind their brash new Speaker, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), after the 1994 elections. Conference conservatives pointed to a number of government programs, both big...

With all the pitfalls President Bush has navigated in five tumultuous years, the one worry he has rarely confronted is rebellion in his own ranks. But House Republicans, his rock, are increasingly restive about the effect that the president’s expansive plans for rebuilding the Gulf Coast could have on the nation’s already massive budget deficits. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the prematurely white-haired leader of the House conservative caucus, set the stage for a tense week for the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue when he declared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that to offset the cost of Katrina relief, “We've got...

WASHINGTON – It wasn't just a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the United Nations that President Bush delivered in New York yesterday. Instead, he laid out an ambitious program of increased U.S. foreign aid to tackle worldwide problems of poverty and disease. Think of it as Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" plan gone global. And he characterized this plan as an extension of his war on terrorism. "Confronting our enemies is essential, and so civilized nations will continue to take the fight to the terrorists," Bush said. "Yet we know that this war will not be won by force...

<p>Hundreds of survivors of Hurricane Katrina lined up Thursday outside the Reliant Center in Houston in hopes of getting $2,000 government debit cards, but there's confusion about who can get the cards and when.</p>

The government promised banks a hands-off approach in overseeing nearly $5 billion in Sept. 11 recovery aid to small businesses. What it got in return was numerous loans to companies that didn't need terror relief - or even know they were getting it, The Associated Press found.

WASHINGTON, DC. - Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) wrote a letter to Speaker Hastert, urging him to direct federal hurricane relief aid through channels other than Louisiana public officials. Citing incompetence and a history of corruption, Tancredo said a bipartisan select committee of the House should administer the aid and provide accountability for the $52 billion requested. The letter is reprinted below: Dear Mr. Speaker, Given the abysmal failure of state and local officials in Louisiana to plan adequately for or respond to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans, and given the long history of public...

WASHINGTON - The federal government plans to begin doling out debit cards worth $2,000 each to adult victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned. Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff descibed the plan in a conference call with state officials Wednesday morning. The unprecedented cash card program initially will benefit stranded people who have been moved to major rescue centers such as the Houston Astrodome. "They are going to start issuing debit cards, $2,000 per adult, today at the Astrodome," said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The cards could be used to buy food,...

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The federal government could spend as much as $150 billion to $200 billion caring for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding from its devastation, according to early congressional estimates -- a total bill that would far surpass the initial costs of recovering from the 9/11 terror attacks and could put Katrina on track to become the most expensive natural disaster in American history... Even as levee breaches were being repaired in New Orleans and oil spills and fires were posing new problems, a torrent of federal relief spending was under way. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is committing funds...

Hurricane evacuees seeking food stamps in Texas started as a trickle and quickly turned into a torrent - eight applications the first day mushroomed to more than 26,000 within four days. To varying degrees, the same story is playing out around the country as state and local governments take in Gulf Coast refugees by the thousands, taxing social programs that in many cases already were stretched thin. Minnesota, already working to absorb a wave of roughly 5,000 Hmong refugees from Laos, is preparing for up to 3,000 Katrina victims while still feeling budget cuts in health assistance and job training...

Herndon officials, looking to address complaints about day laborers loitering on city streets, are expected to decide tonight whether building a shelter for the immigrant workers might solve more problems than it creates. Neighborhoods in Virginia, Maryland and the District have problems with day laborers, many of them illegal aliens, who loiter in parking lots in search of day-to-day work.

NEW YORK MEDICAID FRAUD MAY REACH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS Daily Policy Digest HEALTH ISSUES Thursday, July 21, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New York Medicaid program has been misspending billions of dollars annually because of fraud, waste and profiteering, according to a year-long investigation by the New York Times. The size and scope of problem is alarming: New York spends $44.5 billion annually on Medicaid, which is far more than any other state including California -- whose Medicaid program covers about 55 percent more people. New York's Medicaid budget is larger than most states' entire budgets, and costs nearly twice the national...

Clinton speaks before Hispanic civil rights conference From The Morning Call -- July 18, 2005 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, gestures while giving an address on the challenges of education for the nation's growing Hispanic community, Monday, July 18, 2005, at the annual meeting of the National Council of La Raza, in Philadelphia. (PA Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek) The Morning Call Speaking to the nations' largest Hispanic civil rights organization, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received a standing ovation Monday when she vowed her support for legislation that would allow illegal immigrant high school students to attend college. Clinton made her remarks...

PHILADELPHIA -- Supporters of a proposed law that would benefit people who arrived in the United States illegally as children said Sunday that it would help more immigrants go on to get college degrees and contribute more to society. During a rally held as part of the annual convention of a national Hispanic civil-rights group, people spoke out in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The proposal, known as the DREAM Act, would give undocumented youth the chance to become legal U.S. residents and possibly help them get in-state college tuition. "We are not asking...

Chicago-area immigrants settle lawsuit with Homeland Security CHICAGO: Some notary publics allegedly took advantage of residents, jeopardizing their status BY DAN CATERINICCHIA Associated Press Writer This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, July 17, 2005 12:20 AM CDT CHICAGO | Illegal immigrant Fermin Gutierrez shelled out $1,500 after a notary public said he could get the Mexican national U.S. residency within months, instead of the years the green-card process normally takes. But months later, Gutierrez started getting letters from the federal government saying that he illegally filed for residency and could be deported. That's when he knew the notary had...

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: O'REILLY: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight, we continue our reporting on the chaotic border situation. As you may know, President Bush has proposed a new law that would allow illegal immigrants currently in this country to work toward citizenship if they fulfilled some requirements like having a job and staying out of trouble. Apparently, the Bush administration ordered the border patrol to ask apprehended illegal aliens about the president's proposed new law. And one of the questions was, did the rumors of amnesty influence your decision to illegally enter the USA? Now chances are you've never...

President George W Bush has proposed doubling US aid to Africa over the next five years. He said this would happen if African leaders made a commitment to honest government and the rule of law. Outlining his priorities for the G8 summit next week, Mr Bush said the West now had an extraordinary opportunity to help end extreme poverty in Africa. But on the other main issue facing the summit - climate change - he gave no indication of a compromise. The president criticised those who opposed energy development and wanted to place restrictions upon it. "About two billion people...