Washington in 5 minutes

CIA

Gonzales warns against probe

LUBBOCK, Texas | Former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said Tuesday that any criminal investigation into whether CIA interrogations after Sept. 11 crossed legal lines could have a chilling effect on U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Gonzales said if the Justice Department launches an investigation it “could discourage” CIA operatives from “engaging in conduct that even comes close” to department guidelines.

“So where do you draw the line?” he said. “What is allowed? What’s not allowed?”

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is weighing whether to name a criminal investigator to determine whether laws were violated during interrogations of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

CAMPAIGN

GOP: Heller won’t take on Reid

The Republican Party’s top choice to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid next year has told party officials he’s decided against a run for the Senate.

Rep. Dean Heller, Nevada Republican, called Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, to say he had ruled out a Senate run, Amber Wilkerson, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Tuesday. Mr. Heller will seek to retain what officials consider to be a safe seat representing a largely Republican district.

Mr. Heller told a Reno radio station that he was worried about missing time with his four children.

“There are going to be those who say I made a poor political decision here,” Mr. Heller told KKOH Radio. “The decision was personal, not political.”

Mr. Heller is serving his second term as a representative for Nevada’s largely rural 2nd Congressional District. He earlier demonstrated his ability to win statewide election by serving three terms as Nevada’s secretary of state.

In a statement, Mr. Reid said Mr. Heller “is and will continue to be in an important position for Nevada.”

“Our families have been friends for many years, and regardless of his decision, that wouldn’t have changed,” he said.

SENATE

Dodd undergoes prostate surgery

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut has undergone surgery for prostate cancer.

Dodd spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said Tuesday the surgery was successful and that the senator is recuperating at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He’s expected to be at the hospital for a few days.

The five-term Democrat announced last month that he had been diagnosed with an early, treatable stage of cancer. He expects to return to a full Senate schedule at the end of August after a few weeks of resting at home.

Mr. Dodd has said that the cancer will not affect his plans to seek a sixth term next year. He is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and is playing a leading role in the effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

COURT

Judge oversees Abramoff’s wallet

Imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff will have to get the court’s permission to spend what’s left of a half-million dollar tax refund and any more money he receives, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Prosecutors were angry to learn that Abramoff got a federal income-tax refund worth $520,189 and that his wife spent most of it on family debts without paying down $23 million in court-ordered restitution. The refund was for money that Abramoff mistakenly paid to the Internal Revenue Service before he was sent to prison for influence peddling.

About $175,000 is left, and U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle said he can use $50,000 to pay back taxes to the state of Maryland, $22,000 to pay property taxes and $5,000 to pay Hebrew school tuition for his 16-year-old twins. She ordered Abramoff’s attorneys to submit a plan for spending the rest of it, with a significant amount going to the victims of his crime.

Judge Huvelle also said Abramoff needs to get her approval before spending any other money that comes to him through tax refunds, inheritance or any other windfall. She also suggested that Abramoff’s wife sell their million-dollar home, because she makes about $40,000 as an executive assistant and that’s not enough to cover a $2,500-per-month mortgage and other expenses.

HEALTH CARE

Cable networks diverge on Obama

NEW YORK | Fox News Channel cut away from President Obama’s town-hall meeting on health care reform Tuesday as he faced a far more supportive crowd than has attended many meetings hosted by members of Congress recently. CNN and MSNBC carried the session in full.

The loud public debates have been a tonic for cable news networks during normally quiet August. The audience for Fox’s Bill O’Reilly on Thursday was a half-million more than on a typical evening this year, and he credited his network’s willingness to listen to health care reform opponents for helping bring in viewers.

The cable networks all covered a much livelier forum held Tuesday morning by Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in Lebanon, Pa. One woman, nearly shaking in anger, stood directly in front of Mr. Specter and said the reform bill “is about the systematic dismantling of our country.”

CNN called it a “town hell.”

The loud protests have dominated coverage and put the White House on the defensive. Nearly 60 percent of the time on cable and radio talk shows last week was spent on health care reform proposals, much of that time debating whether the angry protests were genuine or orchestrated, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

MEDICINE

FDA official exits under fire

The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s medical-device division is stepping down, months after staff scientists said they were pressured to approve certain products.

In a letter to agency staffers, Daniel Schultz said he and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg agreed his resignation “would be in the best interest of the center and the agency.”

FDA’s device division, which Mr. Schultz led for five years, has been under scrutiny since earlier this year when nine scientists wrote to the Obama administration transition team complaining they were pressured to approve medical devices against their professional judgment.

Lawmakers are investigating the complaints.

STUDY

New-car mileage rises with subsidy

Cars and light trucks sold in July got more miles per gallon than those sold in previous months, say researchers, who credit the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program.

The average mileage for new vehicles rose from 21.4 miles per gallon in June to 22.1 mpg in July. That may not sound like much, but it’s the highest mileage researchers at the University of Michigan have seen since the Environmental Protection Agency reconfigured mileage estimates in October 2007. It’s also the biggest one-month jump.

Study co-author Michael Sivak noted the improvement came even as gas prices fell and unemployment levels shrank somewhat. Normally, those factors lead to the purchase of more gas guzzlers. The higher mileage shows the effect of “cash for clunkers,” Mr. Sivak said, and he expects the jump to be even bigger when August figures come out. That’s because the trade-in rebate program only got going late in July.

The clunkers program gives people trading in certain vehicles up to a $4,500 subsidy if they increase their mileage by at least 5 to 10 mpg.

From wire dispatches and staff reports.