SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A04

LENGTH: 557 words

HEADLINE: WASHINGTON IN BRIEF

BODY:




The Senate yesterday plunged into the details of a 10-year, $ 173 billion farm bill that -- if Democrats have their way -- could sharply increase spending on conservation programs while protecting massive subsidies for growers of traditional row crops such as corn and wheat.

The White House opposes the Democratic plan, saying it will encourage overproduction and depress prices while undercutting the Bush administration's free trade agenda. Moreover, any farm bill that emerges from the Senate must be reconciled with the version passed earlier this year by the House, making it doubtful that Congress will complete work on the measure before lawmakers go home for the holidays. Nevertheless, Senate Democratic leaders have committed themselves to trying. They won the first round yesterday as the Senate voted 51 to 47 to create a $ 2 billion-a-year subsidy for dairy farmers. The provision was aimed in part at placating northeastern lawmakers whose states traditionally have gotten short shrift from farm programs, which primarily benefit midwestern and southern states.



The U.S. Customs Service would get the power to search all mail sent from the United States under border security legislation the House is likely to take up in coming days.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates object to the proposal as a possible violation of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. But supporters, led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), point out that Customs already has authority to search incoming mail, as part of its power to impose duties on imports.

The provision is part of the broader Customs Border Security Act, which authorizes the budget for Customs and other agencies. A spokeswoman for Thomas said 256 House members support the legislation, which has cleared the Ways and Means Committee. The legislation was considered by the House last week along with the trade-promotion authority bill, but it did not have enough votes to clear a procedural hurdle requiring two-thirds support.

The proposal allows Customs officers to "stop and search at the border, without a search warrant, mail of domestic origin transmitted for export." The provision says officers are not authorized to read correspondence without a search warrant.



The Bush administration notified Congress that the government's current borrowing limit of $ 5.95 trillion will be reached by February. It requested that the national debt ceiling be raised to $ 6.7 trillion.

The request was contained in a letter from Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.).

As recently as August, the administration projected that the current borrowing limit would not be reached until September 2003. O'Neill blamed the worsening debt picture on the terrorist attacks.

"In the wake of the tragic terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, related disaster recovery and assistance efforts, the ongoing war on terrorism and resulting negative effects on the economy, the administration now projects the statutory debt ceiling . . . may be reached as soon as February 2002," O'Neill said in his letter.

Democrats have indicated they do not plan to take up the administration's request until next year.

-- From staff and wire reports



LOAD-DATE: December 12, 2001