Bush Administration

NEW YORK - For eight months, he has been silent, as the Democratic presidential race has moved along without him. So yesterday, when Al Gore returned to a public stage and pointedly accused President Bush of misleading America on the war and on domestic issues, a question that dogs the former vice president emerged anew: What is he up to? Standing before a campaign-like backdrop of 12 American flags, he delivered an impassioned critique of the president, declaring at one point: "Next year we ought to fire him and get a new one."

WASHINGTON - In a politically risky move, President Bush is expected to lift the tariffs today on steel imports that he imposed last year to boost the ailing U.S. steel industry, an administration official said last night. To ease the pain for American steelmakers, Bush is expected to promise the industry targeted relief if other nations flood the U.S. market with steel. Bush administration officials said last night that the president is not likely to announce the decision himself. Instead, the decision is expected to be explained by Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans at a news conference.

In its final weeks, the Bush administration is pushing changes that could decimate threatened Chesapeake Bay wildlife, along with 1,353 at-risk species across the nation. The Interior Department posted a proposal over the summer for sweeping changes to the 35-year-old Endangered Species Act. They would eliminate mandatory scientific review by experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service of all federally approved development projects that might affect endangered plants or animals.

AS THE smaller of the two national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers has had to try harder. Over the years, it's been a little smarter, a little faster, a little nimbler than the giant National Education Association. Last week, the AFT proved how nimble it can be. Using what the union called "a combination of intuition, prior knowledge, considerable digging and luck," a trio of AFT researchers analyzed data on student test scores in charter schools. The information is buried - deeply buried - in a U.S. Department of Education online databank.

Near sunrise on a summer morning in 2001, Patrick Parker of Childress, Texas, swerved to avoid a deer. His pickup truck rolled over, and the roof of the Ford F-250 crumpled. Parker didn't stand a chance. His neck broke, and, at 37, he was paralyzed from the chest down. He sued, and Ford settled for an undisclosed amount. "You can imagine what happens when you're belted in and the roof comes down even with the door," Parker said. "Your options are death or quadriplegia." Parker's case and hundreds like it are behind a beefed-up roof safety standard proposed in August by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Air Force, saying that it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials. The proposed change would be a substantial shift in U.S. policy. It would almost certainly be opposed by many American allies and potential enemies, who have said it might create an arms race in space.

WASHINGTON - At first glance, the Bush administration's decision last week to defend a federal contracting program that gives racial preferences to minorities might seem puzzling. After all, both President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have expressed opposition to affirmative action and have pledged to find ways of eliminating it. But legal observers say the administration's decision to defend the contracting program likely had less to do with its stance on affirmative action than with its view of the proper role of the Justice Department in cases before the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, which has developed an array of communications strategies that bypass the traditional White House press corps, has a new Internet feature that allows anyone with a computer and a modem to put a question directly to an administration official. Inaugurated last week, "Ask the White House" enables the administration to deliver its message directly to the people, free of media filtering or analysis. Still, based on the first two online sessions, e-mail questioners are likely to get the same prepackaged answers as any reporter asking a question at a White House briefing.

GO GLOBAL, think local" is today's mantra, but it isn't working for free trade. The Bush administration, supposed advocate of free trade, put tariffs of 30 percent on imported steel in March, America's single most protectionist measure in 20 years. It has also slapped tariffs on Canadian lumber, and conceded to congressional attempts to withdraw textile trade concessions granted recently to Caribbean countries. Two weeks ago, Bush signed a farm bill which will increase farm subsidies by 80 percent, reversing legislation from 1996 that aimed to phase out subsidies entirely.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, promising to build stronger levees in New Orleans, announced yesterday that it will seek $1.5 billion more from Congress to help the city rebuild its flood defenses. "The levee system will be better and safer than it's ever been before," said Donald Powell, the federal official overseeing Gulf Coast reconstruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While promising to have adequate levees in place for next year's hurricane season, federal officials were unable to guarantee that the levees to be completed around New Orleans two years from now will be able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.