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House to consider stimulus plan

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The $825 billion plan to pick up the U.S. economy and revise how issues are considered in the future should be split, a former budget director says.

The package scheduled for a House vote Wednesday would create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short term, and provide the foundation for revamping energy, healthcare and infrastructure for years to come. Some supporters say the two goals, while laudable, are competing with each other, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

In testimony before the House Budget Committee Tuesday, Alice Rivlin, budget director for former President Bill Clinton, suggested lawmakers implement the stimulus section now and take a slower approach to build the longer-term spending components.

"Such a long-term investment program should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package," Rivlin testified.

Some House Democrats and Republicans said they're disappointed in the amount of money allocated for infrastructure. The bill includes $40 billion for such projects, less than 5 percent of the package's total spending, the Post said.

"Every penny of the $825 billion is borrowed against the future of our kids and grandkids, and so the question is: What benefit are we providing them?" Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., told the Post.

Rep. John Mica of Florida, ranking Republican on the transportation committee, called the proposed infrastructure spending "almost minuscule."

The plan would provide $150 billion in new spending for the nation's child-care centers, and schools and universities, the New York Times reported. Critics and supporters said the plan's breadth would change radically the federal government's role in education, with proposed expenditures for items such as school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students.

Also tucked in the economic recovery bill is a healthcare allocation of $127 billion.

Doubts raised about Blago's impeachment

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Some Illinois senators deciding whether to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office wondered aloud how strong the case against him really is.

"The governor may be guilty as sin," said Sen. Mike Jacobs, "but the tapes I heard (Tuesday), they might have been close to the line, but I don't think they crossed the line."

The senators heard about six minutes of recorded conversations about raising cash between the governor and a horse track owner.

Blagojevich kept up his long-distance criticism of the proceedings, appearing on several talk shows in New York and telling audiences the hearing is unfair because he cannot call the witnesses he wants.

Senate President John Cullerton urged Blagojevich to come to the Capitol in Springfield, Ill., to argue his case in person before lawmakers vote on whether to convict and remove him from office.

"He's not appreciating, I don't think, the seriousness of this matter," Cullerton said.

Senators Tuesday also heard FBI Special Agent Daniel Cain confirm the accuracy of an affidavit outlining corruption charges that led to Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest. He refused to answer some questions, on advice from a federal prosecutor beside him, prompting some senators to wonder about the potency of the impeachment case, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

Sen. Kimberly Lightford said she and other senators are starting to think the "federal case isn't strong." But she also was critical of Blagojevich for not attending the proceedings.

The articles of impeachment accuse Blagojevich of a number of efforts to secure personal gain or campaign contributions in exchange for official acts. He also was arrested, but not yet indicted, on federal corruption charges, including accusations of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Russia delays Euro missile deployment

MOSCOW, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Russia is suspending its plans to place short-range missiles in Eastern Europe in an olive branch to new U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian media reported.

A report carried Wednesday by the Interfax news agency quoted an official from Russia's General Staff in Moscow indicating that Moscow is delaying plans to site missiles in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, The Times of London reported.

The Interfax report quoted the unnamed official saying the move to suspend deployment of the nuclear-capable Iskander short-range missiles was being made "because the new U.S. administration is not pushing ahead with the plans to deploy … the U.S. missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic."

Efforts by the Bush administration to place elements of an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe has been a major irritant to the Kremlin, which says the system is meant to aid NATO expansionist plans. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered the missiles to be placed in Kaliningrad the day after Obama's Nov. 4 election, The Times said.

The apparent olive branch came as Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin prepared to attend Wednesday's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Canadian Liberals want budget amendments

OTTAWA, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Canada's Liberal party planned to seek amendments Wednesday to the budget minority Conservatives presented a day earlier, party officials said.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Tuesday unveiled the plan that injects $40 billion in new spending and tax cuts, and which carries a 5-year deficit, the Canwest News Service said.

Hours later, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and his caucus met to review the budget, on which Prime Minister Stephen Harper consulted them in recent weeks.

One Liberal member of Parliament who didn't want to be identified told the Globe and Mail said it didn't appear the Liberals would topple the government with a non-confidence vote Thursday, as "more individuals were leaning toward letting the government live than pushing to defeat it."

Both the socialist New Democratic Party and separatist Bloc Quebecois opposition parties said they will vote against the budget, Canwest said.

Many of the new measures in the budget are temporary and aimed at helping citizens through the recession although a $3.2 billion cut in income taxes for low-income earners and seniors would be permanent, the Globe said.

China shuts down 55 online porn sites

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Chinese officials say they have shut down 55 pornographic Web sites since the start of the weeklong Spring Festival in a continuing crackdown.

The festival, which celebrates the lunar New Year, began Sunday, but the anti-porn crackdown has been going on since Jan. 5, with officials telling Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, 1,507 such Web sites have been closed in that time.

Officials of governmental special operations office targeting online porn said the latest 55 Web sites contained and publicized pornographic and vulgar content, allegedly violating China's laws against public distribution of sexual images and lewd content.

Xinhua reported the office has also closed 114 blogs, which allegedly contained pornographic content, as well as deleting more than 47,000 pornographic pictures during the Spring Festival.