Capitol office cleared in nerve agent scare

Eight senators, including New Hampshire's Judd Gregg, were among 200 people who were held in a Capitol parking garage last night after a security sensor indicated the presence of a nerve agent in their office building.

"Tests initially indicated a nerve agent," said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. "A subsequent test indicated it is not a nerve agent."

"I started out flying in Air Force One and ended up in the garage with 200 of my closest friends," Gregg said, speaking on a cell phone from the garage.

Earlier in the day, Gregg accompanied President Bush on a brief visit to New Hampshire.

Gregg said everyone was eager to go home, but understood the need for the delay.

None of the people gathered in the garage was showing any signs of sickness or other adverse symptoms, such as a runny nose, that might indicate the presence of a nerve agent, Schneider said.

The Homeland Security Department did not have an immediate comment, but a senior counterterror official said it did not immediately appear to be an emergency.

Social Security cuts not favored by GOP

Congressional Republicans yesterday shunned President Bush's election-year call to cut Social Security benefits, and one committee chairman accused the administration of seeking to end "a pittance for widows and widowers."

"I have no plans to pursue these proposals," said GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The budget that Bush submitted to Congress on Monday proposes eliminating a $255 lump-sum death benefit that has been part of Social Security for more than 50 years. It also urges Congress to cut off monthly survivor benefits to 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts.

If approved, the two proposals would save a combined $3.4 billion over the next decade, according to administration estimates. Based on early reaction, or lack of it, congressional passage seemed unlikely.

25 died from ADHDdrugs over 4 years

Twenty-five people died and 54 more suffered serious cardiovascular problems after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder between 1999 and 2003, the government says.

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