Washington in 5 minutes

CONGRESS

Skeptics speak out against carbon cap

A bipartisan group of coal- and oil-state lawmakers said Wednesday they would vote against any climate-protection plan that results in a massive loss of jobs, though it was unclear if there are enough of them to stop President Obama’s cap-and-trade greenhouse-gas proposal from becoming law.

Rep. Gene Green, Texas Democrat, told a panel of economists that any sort of carbon-reduction proposal that fails to protect American jobs will find little support in the House.

“I can’t vote for it,” said Mr. Green, who represents an oil-producing district in Houston.

“What happens to these coal miner jobs?” asked Illinois Republican John Shimkus, as he held up a large, black-and-white picture of blue-collar workers.

“I challenge the Democrats to move this bill, because we will defeat them at the polls,” Mr. Shimkus said during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on energy and environment.

PENTAGON

Missile shield under microscope

A plan to expand a U.S. ballistic-missile shield into Eastern Europe is being scrutinized as part of a 2010 budget request to be sent to Congress next month, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer told Congress on Wednesday.

“I can tell you that issue is under intense review,” Robert Hale, the Defense Department’s comptroller, told the House Budget Committee.

In addition, he said, “nothing is off the table” as a candidate for cuts or cancellation among major arms programs in the spending plan for fiscal 2010, which starts Oct. 1. “But no final decisions have been made.”

CDC

Teen birthrate goes up again

The U.S. teen birthrate rose for a second straight year in 2007 after a long decline, and more babies were born than even at the peak of the baby boom after World War II, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

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