Washington in 5 Minutes

ETHICS

Maxine Waters under probe

The House ethics committee said Thursday it is investigating whether California Rep. Maxine Waters used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock - and whether the couple benefited as a result.

Mrs. Waters is the No. 3 Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and chairwoman of its subcommittee on housing. She has been an influential voice in the committee’s work to overhaul financial regulations.

Mrs. Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at OneUnited Bank last year without mentioning her husband’s financial ties to the institution.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, holds at least $250,000 in its stock and previously served on the bank’s board. Mrs. Waters’ spokesman, Michael Levin, said Mr. Williams was no longer on the board when the meeting was arranged.

The ethics committee also voted unanimously to investigate whether Rep. Laura Richardson, California Democrat, violated rules of the House, its Code of Conduct or the Ethics in Government Act by failing to disclose property, income and liabilities on her financial disclosure forms.

The investigation also will determine whether Ms. Richardson received an impermissible gift or preferential treatment from a lender “relating to the foreclosure … or loan modification agreement” of her Sacramento property.

The committee ended an investigation of Rep. Sam Graves, Missouri Republican, and released a report finding no ethical violations. It investigated whether Mr. Graves used his position on the House Small Business Committee to invite a longtime friend and business partner of his wife to testify at a committee hearing on the federal regulation of biodiesel and ethanol production.

Meanwhile, a confidential weekly report of the ethics committee from July found its way to an Internet site in a case of “cyber-hacking,” said committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat. No inferences should be made about anyone whose name is mentioned, she said.

WORKPLACE SAFETY

Construction deaths prompt safety review

Federal officials will investigate workplace safety programs across the country after the deaths of 25 workers in construction accidents in Las Vegas over an 18-month period.

A federal review of Nevada’s workplace safety program showed inspectors didn’t know enough about construction safety hazards and failed to issue citations for willful and repeat violations. The workers were killed from January 2008 through June 2009.

The review happened after the Las Vegas Sun exposed serious safety flaws on the sites and lax oversight by regulators, leading lawmakers to question whether other states were experiencing similar problems. Now the safety programs in 27 states and territories will be scrutinized.

SENATE

Surgeon general confirmed

The Senate by voice vote on Thursday confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin to be the U.S. surgeon general, elevating a well-known Alabama family physician to be the nation’s top doctor.

Dr. Benjamin, 53, the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and last fall received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.”

INTELLIGENCE

Obama restores power to intelligence board

President Obama on Thursday restored an independent intelligence advisory agency’s authority to tell the attorney general if it thinks that a U.S. intelligence agency may have broken the law, a move intended to improve oversight of those agencies.

That power was stripped away by former President George W. Bush more than a year ago. Mr. Bush’s executive order limited the Intelligence Oversight Board to exposing potential violations of law to only the national intelligence director, the president and the agency involved.

Mr. Obama amended that Bush-era decision Thursday with his own executive order, ruling that the attorney general would also have to be notified of any possible intelligence-related violations.

HOUSE

Chamber moves to avoid shutdown

The House has approved a stopgap spending measure to avoid a shutdown for 11 Cabinet-level departments whose budgets won’t be enacted by a midnight Saturday deadline.

The measure would give Congress until Dec. 18 to finish seven incomplete spending measures that were supposed to be wrapped up by Sept. 30. The bill passed by a 247-178 vote and now goes to the Senate, which must pass it this week to avoid a partial shutdown. The legislation, among other things, extends highway programs and federal loan guarantees for larger mortgages.

The anti-shutdown measure was attached to a remarkably generous spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs. Lawmakers are pumping billions of dollars into clean and safe drinking water projects.

WHITE HOUSE

Garden goes through second harvest

First lady Michelle Obama and several dozen children from District schools have harvested the produce growing in the garden on the South Lawn of the White House.

Using pitchforks and other garden tools, their labor produced a wheelbarrow brimming with sweet potatoes, and baskets and bowls filled with carrots, fennel, lettuces, eggplant and more. Everything is to be donated to a nearby soup kitchen.

Wednesday’s harvest was the second for the garden. An earlier harvest came in the spring.

Mrs. Obama planted the garden in March to show how easy it can be to grow vegetables and fit them into a more nutritious diet.

From wire dispatches and staff reports