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House passes $1.9 trillion debt limit hike

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A record $1.9 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit squeaked through the House of Representatives on a party-line vote Thursday.

Democrats also passed a "pay-as-you-go" bill reinstating rules like those governing spending in the 1990s, Politico reported. That passed 233-187, while the increase in the debt limit, with 37 Democrats jumping ship, had a margin of five votes, 217-212.

The increase raised the debt ceiling to $14.294 trillion, CNN Money reported. It is expected to allow the Treasury Department to continue to borrow for the rest of the year and enable Democrats to avoid another controversial vote before the November elections.

Also Thursday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said it is up to Republicans to decide whether they want to participate in a deficit-reduction commission. Hoyer said President Obama will create a bipartisan commission with room for Republicans.

The last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, participated in a conference call with congressional leaders to push "pay-as-you-go." But some Democrats, like Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey, noted Clinton had the benefit of an economic boom.

"The best deficit-reduction plan is full employment," Andrews said.

Brown sworn in to fill Kennedy Senate seat

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Republican Scott Brown was sworn in Thursday as Massachusetts' new senator by Vice President Joe Biden on the U.S. Senate floor.

Brown took the U.S. Senate seat that had been held for 46 years by the late Democratic stalwart Edward Kennedy, and was welcomed by Republicans as the 41st GOP senator -- breaking the Democrats' filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the 100-member chamber.

Politico said Brown arrived in Washington just hours after his election was certified in Massachusetts.

"It's exciting. I'm humbled and honored to represent the people of Massachusetts," Brown told a crowd assembled outside the Russell Senate Office Building. "Now it's time to get to work."

The swearing-in marked the last day of service for interim Sen. Paul Kirk, D-Mass.

In Massachusetts earlier, the independently elected Governor's Council voted 6-0 to accept the official results, which indicated Brown won last month's special election by 107,317 votes over Democrat Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general, The Boston Globe reported.

10 Americans charged in Haiti orphans case

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Haitian authorities Thursday charged 10 Americans with abducting 33 children being taken to an orphanage in neighboring Dominican Republic, officials said.

The defendants, most of them members of a Baptist church in Idaho, contend they were trying to take care of children they thought were orphans following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in Port-au-Prince. Haitian authorities, however, said at least several of the children still have at least one parent and called the attempt to shuttle the children across the border kidnapping.

The New York Times reported the charges of abduction and criminal association were announced after the 10 detainees were questioned during a closed-door hearing.

The Americans, who were arrested last week, could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

Meanwhile, the Idaho Statesman reported Laura Silsby, the woman who led the group of missionaries, has been sued by eight creditors, and the state Department of Labor reports 14 claims against her for unpaid wages by employees of PersonalShopper, an Internet business she founded in 1999.

In 2007, Silsby bought a Meridian house where she founded the non-profit New Life Children's Refuge in November. She lost the house to foreclosure.

Lt. gov candidate won't stand aside

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The winner of the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in Illinois said Thursday he will not step aside as Gov. Pat Quinn has requested.

Scott Lee Cohen, a Chicago pawnbroker who won a six-way primary Tuesday, said he wants his ex-wife and his ex-girlfriend to come clean about a 2005 domestic violence arrest, the Chicago Tribune reported.

He said he was in a "difficult time" in his life and had an argument with his inebriated girlfriend. Cohen said he did not strike her, but she called the police and had him arrested.

"I was going through a divorce, and I started running with a fast group. I was in a tumultuous relationship with the woman I was dating," he said. "We had a fight, but I never touched her. She called the police; however, she never came to court, and the charges were dismissed. I realized this relationship was not healthy, I ended it, and we parted amicably."

Cohen issued a second statement saying he had tried to talk about the issue during the campaign, but no one wanted to listen because they assumed he had no chance to win.

Quinn held an hour-long news conference, never mentioning Cohen by name but saying he "has an obligation to step aside" if his past becomes a problem for the Democratic party and that candidates unable to run "in a proper way" in November should stand down.

Google asks NSA for help on cybersecurity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Internet search giant Google has asked the U.S. National Security Agency for help in investigating a breach of the company's security, sources say.

Google has said it believes recent "highly sophisticated" attacks on it originated in China, and it has threatened to pull its operations from that country, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Theft of intellectual property had occurred, Google said, and the goal of the attacks was to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

But collaboration between Google and the federal agency responsible for global electronic surveillance raises civil liberties questions, the Times said.

While the agreement will not give the NSA access to information belonging to Google users, it still reopens longstanding questions about the role of the agency.

"Google and NSA are entering into a secret agreement that could impact the privacy of millions of users of Google's products and services around the world," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Obama's aunt gets immigration reprieve

BOSTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Kenyan national Zeituni Onyango, an aunt of U.S. President Barack Obama, can stay in the United States -- for now, a Boston court said Thursday.

A judge gave Onyango and government lawyers 30 days to file closing arguments and he is expected to rule no later than May 25, The Boston Globe reported.

The U.S. Immigration Court hearing was part of her bid to avoid being deported from the United States. She was ordered back to her native country in 2004.

Margaret Wong, Onyango's attorney, called as witnesses two doctors to support her client's bid for asylum. They testified she suffers from an autoimmune disorder, the Globe said.

Asked if President Obama submitted anything in support of his aunt, Wong said, "Absolutely not."

Onyango said she didn't need the president as a character witness.

"My problem is my problem," she said. "I carry my own cross."

Onyango is the half-sister of Barack Obama Sr., the president's father, who died in 1982. Onyango and the president met in 1988 when Obama visited Kenya.