Search results for

NPR's David Welna reports on the second installment of President Bush's tax plan, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee today on a party-line vote. This installment, which the full House is expected to take up next week, focuses on the so-called marriage tax and the child tax credit. But Democrats argue -- and some Republicans agree -- that none of this addresses the immediate problem of the faltering economy.

Some say the financial markets continue to decline because the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates by just half a percent earlier this week. Commentator Lyle Gramley, who is a former member of the Federal Reserve Board, says Wall Street's decline is more about the slowdown in the economy. A previous Fed commentary aired yesterday. In that piece, Bert Ely said the Fed's interest rate cut was too little, too late, and that the Fed has a history of either under or overreacting.

Noah Adams talks to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman about two recent Bush administration decisions: to rescind arsenic standards put into place in the final days of the Clinton administration, and to reverse a position on carbon dioxide regulations. Whitman says that both decisions were based on balancing needs -- in the arsenic case, health and affordable water; in the carbon dioxide case, energy demands and greenhouse gas limitations.

NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that President Bush has decided to end a five-decade tradition of the American Bar Association screening potential federal judicial candidates. White House Counsel Al Gonzales has written to the ABA, informing the group the White House will no longer provide names before they are made public. The ABA has a special committee that has screened candidates since the Eisenhower administration. The panel gave potential judges the ratings of "well qualified," "qualified" or "not qualified." Some conservatives opposed ABA screening, saying they believed the ABA had a liberal bias.

NPR's Phillip Martin reports on that the 2000 census results reflect a change in America's perception of race. This was the first census that allowed people to check more than one category of race and ethnicity.

NPR's Renee Montagne talks with Richard Curtis of the charity group Comic Relief. He convinced Harry Potter author JK Rowling to write two Hogwarts textbooks for donation to the organization.

Noah Adams talks to Michael Kirst, a professor of education at Stanford University. He was co-chair of the technical committee that selected questions for the new California state high school exit test. He says that the test measures the minimum proficiency a student must demonstrate in English and math in order to graduate. Other states require a test for high school graduation. The tests in Virginia and Massachusetts, for example, are much harder than the California test.

NPR's John Nielsen reports that President Bush made a last-minute decision to keep carbon dioxide unregulated by the federal government. The president was expected to act on campaign promises to cut the level of CO2 coming from power plants, in an effort to limit global warming.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports that a bankruptcy bill before Congress would make it harder to hide from creditors. Some lawmakers argue the law would be for the moral good of debtors, and business lobbyists of all stripes are pushing to shape the bill in their favor.

NPR's Guy Raz in Ankara reports many Turks are questioning their government's dealings with the International Monetary Fund. They say the recent financial crisis would not have occurred if the government had refused to implement IMF-backed economic reforms.

NPR's Madeleine Brand talks with Jef Beck, one of the world's foremost collector of Ken Dolls. Today is the 40th anniversary of Barbie's male counterpart.

In the first of a two-part series, NPR's Peter Overby reports on the relationship between the oil industry and federal government. The two have a history that stretches back to the early 1900's. Tomorrow, Overby explores what the industry hopes to gain from a new president who got his start drilling oil in Texas.