The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“When I know, you’ll know.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said in a speech Tuesday that she “has to really mull things over” before deciding whether to run for president in 2016

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Pipeline issue heats energy-bill debate

WASHINGTON — The Senate began debate Tuesday on a bill that supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline want to use as a vehicle to authorize immediate construction of the proposed pipeline from Canada to the United States.

The 79-20 vote to limit debate on an energy-efficiency bill lost much of its significance as the two parties continued to argue over what amendments to allow on the measure, including the pipeline project.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., denied a Republican request for an amendment on the pipeline but said he is open to a stand-alone vote on a pipeline bill later.

Reid accused Republicans of trying to block the energy bill, which has bipartisan support. Republicans said Reid was backing away from a promise to allow a vote on Keystone.

In addition to Keystone, Republican senators have prepared a host of amendments to the energy bill, including one that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing rules limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Lawmakers from both parties also support a measure to speed approval of terminals to export liquefied natural gas.

EPA accused of blocking investigations

WASHINGTON — A unit run by President Barack Obama’s political staff inside the Environmental Protection Agency operates illegally as a “rogue law enforcement agency” that has blocked independent investigations by the EPA’s inspector general for years, a top investigator says.

The assistant EPA inspector general for investigations, Patrick Sullivan, was expected to testify today before a House oversight committee about the activities of the EPA’s little-known Office of Homeland Security. The office is overseen by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy’s chief of staff, and the inspector general’s office is accusing it of impeding independent investigations into employee misconduct, computer security and external threats, including compelling employees involved in cases to sign nondisclosure agreements.

“Under the heavy cloak of ‘national security,’ the Office of Homeland Security has repeatedly rebuffed and refused to cooperate with the OIG’s ongoing requests for information or cooperation,” Sullivan wrote in prepared testimony obtained by The Associated Press. “This block unquestionably has hamstrung the Office of Inspector General’s ability to carry out its statutory mandate to investigate wrongdoing of EPA employees.”

Senators to see memo for killing citizen

WASHINGTON — The White House said Tuesday that it will allow senators to review a secret paper justifying the drone strike on an American citizen written by one of President Barack Obama’s appellate court nominees.

The White House is hoping the memo’s disclosure will lead to confirmation of David Barron for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Barron is a Harvard Law professor who had worked as acting assistant attorney general at the Justice Department on the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born al-Qaida leader killed by a U.S. drone in 2011.

Some legal scholars and human-rights activists argue it was illegal for the U.S. to kill American citizens away from the battlefield without a trial.

The American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to senators on Monday, urging them to delay Barron’s confirmation vote until all senators review memos he wrote on the drone program.

Filing says drone ban curbs journalism

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen media organizations challenged the government’s ban on the use of drones by journalists Tuesday, saying the Federal Aviation Administration’s position violates First Amendment protections for news gathering.

The organizations filed a brief with the National Transportation Safety Board in support of aerial photographer Raphael Pirker. Pirker was fined $10,000 by the FAA for flying a small drone near the University of Virginia to make a commercial video in October 2011. He appealed the fine to the safety board, which hears challenges to FAA decisions.

More recently, the FAA said it was “looking into” the use of a drone by a Little Rock journalist after recent tornadoes in Arkansas.

An administrative law judge ruled in March that the FAA can’t enforce its policy against all commercial use of drones when the agency hasn’t issued regulations for those uses.

A Section on 05/07/2014

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