Committee Chairman

WASHINGTON -- A $7.3 billion election-year sweetener for Social Security pensioners is being hustled through the House despite complaints that it would bust the budget.With bipartisan backing, the proposal would nearly double -- from $10,200 to $20,000 a year -- the amount pensioners would be allowed to earn every year without losing part of their Social Security benefits.House staffers said only about 4 percent of all recipients would benefit from the higher earnings limit. Half of them, one staffer said, earn $60,000 a year or more.

Street musicians may soon turn 'pro'Singing in the rain, dancing in the streets and paying the piper would become easier in Maryland under the terms of a law passed by the House of Delegates yesterday.The bill is an amended version of one sponsored by Sen. American Joe Miedusiewski, D-City. The original bill rescinded a prohibition on musicians who perform in public places in Baltimore from soliciting money from listeners.Under current law, this can be done in Maryland only when it is on behalf of a charity.

WASHINGTON - Congress has made it a priority in recent years to revamp the executive branch's homeland security agencies - but lawmakers' own way of dealing with the anti-terrorism effort remains a chaotic maze, and an effort to streamline the system is likely to erupt into a battle today. There are 88 congressional committees that deal with homeland security issues. All 100 senators and 412 of the 435 House members sit on those panels. The system "is a confusing mess," said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York Democrat.

WASHINGTON -- Congress shouldn't use last month's bankruptcy by California's Orange County and other recent investor losses as an excuse to pass unneeded new laws on derivative securities, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and several regulators said yesterday."

Kelly switchesFrancis X. Kelly, a former Baltimore County state senator, formally announced his decision to switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party yesterday.Mr. Kelly, who served 12 years in the Senate from Baltimore County's 10th District, was defeated in last year's Democratic primary by Janice Piccinini, who went on to win the general election. The abortion issue figured prominently in the campaign. Mr. Kelly was the leader of the anti-abortion filibuster in the Senate last year.

In the end, the broad bank reform bill defeated by the House this week was a compromise that pleased neither side.The bill, which only 89 lawmakers supported, would have allowed banks to enter new lines of business -- a goal the Bush administration and banks had pushed for months -- but was amended with restrictions banks said were too onerous.And the vote, with 324 representatives opposed, showed how the compromise became distasteful to two divergent interests: those who wanted to loosen bank regulations without strings attached, and those who feared that to do so now would be distasteful in light of the ongoing savings and loan debacle.

PRESIDENT CLINTON's State of the Union address tonight, and the reception it is likely to receive from Republicans, may usher in an era of political accommodation unlike anything Washington has seen since Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn made it their business to get along in the 1950s. If this is so, if the harsh partisanship of the Clinton first term is behind us, chalk it up to the collective wisdom of the American people.Even before voters went to the polls last November to elect a Democratic president and a Republican Congress, they had made it clear that their preference for divided government did not mean they were in favor of deadlock, shutdown and ideological shouting matches.

TO THOSE WHO SAY Maryland has seen too many public corruption scandals, we offer the immortal words of Spiro T. Agnew: Nolo contendere. Former state Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas L. Bromwell's indictment on federal racketeering charges is a sad reminder that the claim of a "culture of corruption" in Annapolis is not without merit. And while it's touching to hear our state leaders voice their concern for the well-being of Mr. Bromwell and his family, it would be even more comforting to hear that they're just as worried about the integrity of Maryland's government.

Last week, the Scout Sunday Mass for the Archdiocese of Baltimore was celebrated at St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church. More than 300 Scouts and Scout leaders from the Baltimore area attended.St. Philip Neri Parish sponsors Cub Pack and Scout Troop 447, which serve more than 100 boys in the Linthicum area.The main celebrant was Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop William C. Newman. He was assisted by concelebrants Monsignor Francis X. Zorbach, pastor of St. Philip Neri, and the Rev. Thomas L. Phillips, who recently was appointed as archdiocesan Scouting chaplain by Cardinal William H. Keeler.

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have modified a 6-year-old rule change they once touted as a key to reforming the House of Representatives.In 1994, after voters handed Republicans control of Congress and Newt Gingrich was elected speaker, House Republicans set a six-year term limit for all committee chairmen, saying this was a way to limit the power of seniority, prevent chairmen from becoming entrenched and allow a younger generation of lawmakers a...