...
Picayune Item: Mississippi News Near the Gulf: News
601-798-4766http://www.picayuneitem.comUpdated daily by 2 p.m.
CSTSite last update: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Serving Southern Mississippi Since 1904
January 26th, 2006
Top Ads
Special Sections
Online Forms
Subscribe
Place an Ad
Letter to the Editor
Engagement Announcement
Wedding Announcement
Bonus Features
National News
Guestbook
Stocks
Entertainment
Town Hall Health
News
First two bills in Senate unlikely to win passage
Thursday, January 26, 2006 12:50 PM CST
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate opens its 2006 legislative session next week with two measures stalled at the starting gate: renewing the anti-terror USA Patriot Act and establishing a fund to compensate asbestos disease sufferers and stop their lawsuits against American businesses.The Patriot Act is set to expire Feb.
3.
Lacking the votes to renew many of the anti-terrorism law's provisions permanently and others for four years, Republican leaders are looking at a simple extension into March.
The other measure is a bill to compensate asbestos disease sufferers and halt suits the Bush administration says have cost businesses $80 billion.
The measure is in such bad shape that one senator predicted it will only pass with help from a higher power.“Perhaps it will take a miracle, but miracles do happen,” Sen.
John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
Both bills are products of the Senate Judiciary Committee and are ...
Read more...