U.S. aid to Afghanistan needs sharper focus: study (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The benefits of U.S. foreign aid for Afghanistan could melt away with a planned U.S. troop withdrawal, according to a congressional study that recommends the Obama administration focus on long-term, sustainable development.

The two-year study by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority, which is to be released on Wednesday, urged the administration to make more effective use of the roughly $320 million a month in foreign aid it spends in Afghanistan, with a focus on sustainability.

The administration's fiscal year 2012 request for Afghanistan includes roughly $3.2 billion in foreign aid.

The report comes as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a decision on when to start bringing a sizable number of the 100,000 U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, a step toward decisively ending the long, costly war.

On Tuesday, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a member of Obama's Democratic Party, said the president should withdraw a minimum of 15,000 troops by the end of this year.

The congressional report said roughly 80 percent of U.S. Agency for International Development funds allocated in Afghanistan's south and east -- the traditional heartland of the Taliban and other insurgents -- were being used for short-term stabilization programs instead of long-term development projects.

"The evidence that stabilization programs promote stability in Afghanistan is limited. Some research suggest the opposite," the report said.

The document also warned that misspent foreign aid could fuel corruption, distort labor and goods markets and contribute to insecurity in Afghanistan. It noted an estimated 97 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product was derived from international aid.

"Afghanistan could suffer a sever economic depression when foreign troops leave in 2014 unless the proper planning begins now," the report said.

The report also raised concern about the U.S. government's heavy reliance on contractors in Afghanistan and a lack of oversight. It said an over-reliance on international technical advisors to build the capacity of Afghan institutions may undermine the efforts.

"Our aid projects need to focus more on sustainability so that Afghans can absorb our programs when donor funds recede."

(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Paul Simao)

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After arrest, Casey Anthony insisted her focus is on finding Caylee

(CNN) -- In jail visits with her brother and parents following her arrest, Casey Anthony alternately cries, giggles, expresses love to her relatives and insists her sole focus is finding her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, according to tapes of those visits played for jurors in her capital murder trial on Thursday.

"If you can speak to the media directly, my concern for me is Caylee," a tearful Anthony tells her brother, Lee Anthony, on July 25, 2008, from an Orange County, Florida, jail. "No one has said for me that I love my daughter, that I want her safety and that she and the rest of my family is my only concern. All I want is to see her again, to hear her laugh, to see her smile and to just be with our family. Nothing else matters to me at this point."

The same day, Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, asks her during a visit, "Are you protecting Caylee? Are you protecting me?"

"I'm protecting our family, yes," Anthony replies. "Not from anything I've done."

"Is someone threatening us?" Cindy Anthony asks, then asks again after receiving no answer.

"Just leave it at that, please," her crying daughter replies, adding that she will write her and elaborate. The family was careful about what they discussed, mindful the conversations were being recorded.

Now 25, Casey Anthony is charged with seven counts in Caylee's death, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.

She has pleaded not guilty and denied harming her daughter or having anything to do with the little girl's disappearance or death. Defense attorney Jose Baez has said that once all the facts are known, it will become clear his client is innocent.

The taped conversations occurred at a time when tips were pouring in to authorities on Caylee's whereabouts. The little girl was last seen June 16, 2008, but was not reported missing until a month later. Her skeletal remains were found in December 2008, not far from the Anthony home.

Asked during the visit what Anthony wants her mother to give the media as a message to Caylee, Anthony breaks down as she says to tell her daughter "that Mommy loves her very much, and she's the most important thing in this entire world to me, and to be brave. I truly, truly love that little girl, and miss her so much."

"I know in my heart, I know in my gut, I know with every ounce of my being that we will be with (Caylee) again," she tells Lee Anthony during a July 28 visit.

Anthony gives her visitors information on places to look for Caylee and shares information in an effort to track down a person named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, saying she was a nanny who kidnapped the little girl.

After the playing of the first taped conversation between Casey and Lee Anthony, Baez moved for a mistrial, saying it had damaged his credibility in the eyes of the jury. In the conversation, Lee Anthony tells his sister that Baez might not pass along messages or information to her if he deemed it not in her best interest.

Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. denied that motion, saying Baez should have raised the issue months ago.

Earlier, jurors heard a tape of a police interview in which, under intense questioning, Casey Anthony admits she had purposely misled investigators attempting to find Caylee, but maintains the little girl was kidnapped by Gonzalez.

The interview with an Orange County sheriff's sergeant and two detectives was conducted July 16, 2008, in a conference room at Universal Studios. It came after the officers had accompanied Anthony there, only to have her confess that, despite her previous claims to the contrary, she no longer worked there.

In the interview, investigators pleaded with Anthony to tell the truth about what happened to Caylee.

"None of us are sitting here believing what you're saying because everything that's coming out of your mouth is a lie," Detective Yuri Melich told Anthony during the interview. "Everything. And unless we start getting the truth, we're going to announce two possibilities with Caylee: Either you gave Caylee to someone that you don't want anyone to find out because you think you're a bad mom. Or something happened to Caylee and Caylee's buried somewhere or in a trash can somewhere, and you had something to do with it. Either way, right now it's not a very pretty picture to be painting."

Asked later whether Gonzalez accepted money, Anthony said, "I would not have sold my daughter. If I wanted to really just get rid of her, I would have left her with my parents and I would've left. I would've moved out. I would've given my mom custody."

Later that day, after authorities failed to find Gonzalez in a database of Florida driver's licenses, Anthony was arrested on suspicion of giving police false information, obstructing an investigation and child neglect.

"Did you ever locate the Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez that Ms. Anthony described to you?" prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick asked Melich, who took the stand Wednesday. "No, I did not," Melich answered.

Authorities did find a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez, who denied ever meeting Casey Anthony or Caylee and later sued for defamation.

On cross-examination, Baez expressed skepticism that Melich did not suspect Anthony at that point of foul play in Caylee's disappearance. Melich said he did not, although he knew Anthony had lied, and "I couldn't understand why the mother of a missing child would go to (this) extent if we're just trying to find her child."

But, he said, Anthony was "adamant" that she was telling the truth about Gonzalez the nanny kidnapping her daughter.

Earlier, prosecutors set about debunking Anthony's previous statements to her friends and family, presenting testimony that she never had a wealthy suitor named Jeffrey Michael Hopkins and she had not worked at Universal Studios since 2006, despite years of claims to the contrary.

A man named Jeff Hopkins testified that while he knew Anthony from middle school, her claims of dating him and him introducing her to Gonzalez were fabrications. Hopkins, 26, said his name wasn't even Jeffrey Michael Hopkins -- the name Anthony had given as a wealthy suitor living in Jacksonville, Florida, with a son named Zachary.

Hopkins said he had no children and described Anthony as an acquaintance. He said he has never lived in Jacksonville and that while he once worked at Universal Studios, he was not there at the same time as Anthony.

Asked by Baez whether all Anthony's stories were "one great fiction," Hopkins said, "Yeah, that's correct."

Following Hopkins to the stand was Leonard Turtora, assistant manager of loss prevention at Universal Studios. Turtora testified that after he was contacted by authorities investigating Caylee's disappearance, he searched the Universal Studios database and found Anthony had not worked there since 2006 -- and even then worked for a third party, Colorvision, that operated on Universal property.

According to testimony, Anthony claimed to work as an event planner at Universal Studios until after Caylee was reported missing.

She was forced to own up to the lie after detectives brought her to Universal Studios and met Turtora there. She directed them to a building Turtora said he knew was not an events building.

"Melich began to look around and asked if we were in the events building," Turtora said. "Ms. Anthony looked at me, put her hands in her back pocket and stated, 'I don't work here.'"

The name Juliette Lewis, given by Anthony as another co-worker, also was not found in the database, nor was a Zenaida Gonzalez. Anthony had told authorities after Caylee went missing that Gonzalez had a seasonal ID for Universal but was working only as a nanny.

Melich was called back to the stand Thursday. On Wednesday, he had testified about a written statement from Anthony and an interview he conducted with her in the early morning hours of July 16, just after Caylee was reported missing. A recording of that interview was played for jurors Wednesday.

Asked whom she had told about the kidnapping, which supposedly had occurred 31 days earlier, Anthony said in the interview she had told no one besides Hopkins and Lewis. Asked for their phone numbers, Anthony told Melich she didn't have them at present but could find them.

Asked by Melich during the interview why she hadn't notified authorities for the 31 days Caylee had been missing, Anthony said, "I think part of me was naive enough to think that I could handle this myself, which obviously I couldn't. And I was scared that something would happen to her if I did notify the authorities or got the media involved, or my parents, which I know would have done the same thing. Just the fear of the unknown. Fear of the potential of Caylee getting hurt, of not seeing my daughter again."

Prosecutors allege Anthony was not looking for her daughter during the month she was missing. Instead, she was staying with her boyfriend, spending time in Orlando with numerous friends, attending parties, going shopping and hitting nightclubs, including participating in a "hot body" contest, according to testimony.

Her former boyfriend, friends and acquaintances have all testified that she did not mention her daughter being missing during that time and that they noticed nothing different about her demeanor.

Just after Caylee was reported missing, Anthony accompanied deputies to an apartment she said was Gonzalez's. An apartment manager testified that apartment was vacant at the time and that a Zenaida Gonzalez had never lived in the complex.

Prosecutors allege that Anthony used chloroform on her daughter and then suffocated her by putting duct tape over her nose and mouth.

Anthony's defense has claimed that the little girl drowned in her grandparents' pool on June 16, the day she was last seen, and that Casey Anthony and her father panicked and kept the death a secret. George Anthony has denied that claim in testimony.

Casey Anthony's defense attorney explains her behavior in June and July 2008 by saying she had been sexually abused as a child by her father -- and, to a lesser extent, her brother -- and was taught from a young age to hide her pain.

George Anthony has also denied abusing his daughter in previous testimony. Earlier Wednesday, her brother, Lee Anthony, testified. Neither side asked Lee Anthony about sexual abuse allegations during his testimony on Wednesday.

In the July 25 interview, Casey Anthony cries as she tells her father, "You've been a great dad and you've been the best grandfather. Don't for a second think otherwise."

After the jury left for the day, prosecutors told Perry that defense attorneys had just notified them of a new expert witness. Perry said the potential witness, Dr. Sally Karioth, should prepare a report, as all expert witnesses must, and outline what she will testify about. He said he would rule later on whether to allow the witness to testify.

CNN

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GOP hopefuls focus on Obama in N.H. appearance

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Republican presidential contest executed a soft launch this weekend, with eager but unofficial contenders focusing all their criticisms on President Barack Obama at a New Hampshire dinner ? and none on each other.

Former Republican governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a possible 2012 presidental candidate, speaks during a dinner sponsored by Americans for Prosperity on Friday in Manchester , N.H.

By Jim Cole, AP

Former Republican governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a possible 2012 presidental candidate, speaks during a dinner sponsored by Americans for Prosperity on Friday in Manchester , N.H.

Eventually, of course, they will have to say whether they're really candidates. And they'll have to critique one another if they hope to pull away from the pack. But that can wait.

On Friday night in Manchester, five likely GOP contenders hacked away almost in unison at liberals, Democrats and Obama. They denounced taxes, vilified government regulations and promised to repeal the president's 2010 health care law.

Their differences were subtle and stylistic, not harsh and policy-driven.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney painted himself as a free-market champion and philosophical heir to the nation's founders. He went tieless, unlike the great majority of men in the ballroom, in his effort to exchange his corporate image for that of a weekend suburban dad.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty portrayed himself as a can-do achiever who reined in government in a Democratic-leaning state.

The fast-talking Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann said Congress should not raise the debt ceiling despite economists' warnings of dire consequences.

Two other hopefuls, former Sen. Rick Santorum and pizza magnate Herman Cain, called for deeply lower taxes and an embrace of the nation's religious heritage. Cain, a longshot, got the evening's biggest laugh with a story about his grandfather driving on rutted roads and urging him to be "a big potato," not a small potato.

The forum was a packed dinner hosted by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity in Manchester, the largest city in the first-primary state. Each candidate spoke for eight minutes and then fielded two questions. They did not address each other.

Those who skipped the event included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, real estate mogul Donald Trump and 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee.

The audience responded about equally to all five speakers. No candidate landed a knockout punch or made a serious gaffe.

Romney spoke in broad terms, portraying himself as a lover of freedom and capitalism, while saying Obama looks to Europe for inspiration and guidance. He said the nation's greatness "is being challenged by those who would make the country more like Europe."

"We got it right, they got it wrong," he said.

Romney said the health care law he signed in Massachusetts, which required all residents to obtain insurance, reduced unfair public subsidies of people who could afford their own care. He again said he never would impose the plan nationwide. And he called for repealing the Democrats' 2010 health law. That plan resembles his state plan in some ways.

Pawlenty praised congressional Republicans' efforts to revamp Medicare but stopped short of endorsing every detail of the House-passed plan. He said that the eligibility age for Medicare should be raised and that Medicaid should be handed to states as a block grant program. As for Social Security, he said wealthier people should not receive the same inflation adjustments that others receive.

Pawlenty apologized again for his past support of a "cap-and-trade" system to limit greenhouse gas emissions and allow businesses to trade the right to produce them.

"It was a mistake, it was stupid, and I'm sorry," he said.

But he boasted of cutting taxes, tying teachers' pay to performance and curbing personal injury lawsuits in his Democratic-leaning state. "If we can do it there, we can do it anywhere," Pawlenty said.

Bachmann, a tea party favorite, called for a litany of tax cuts and an end to government bailouts of ailing industries and subsidies of mortgages. She said she would auction Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae "to the highest bidder," starting at 50 cents.

In rapid-fire fashion, Bachmann said she would "zero out" the capital gains tax and alternative minimum tax. She would scrap the U.S. tax code, she said, "and adopt a national consumption tax."

'Let's get rid of what we've got and start over," Bachmann said.

"And I won't rest until Obamacare is finally repealed, and it will happen," she added. Until then, she said, "we shouldn't give one dime to put this Frankenstein into place."

Romney got a jump on his rivals, criticizing Obama's energy policies during an afternoon photo-op at a Manchester gas station.

"There's almost no silver bullet to do anything of significance in the country," Romney said after greeting a few people filling their cars at a Manchester gas station. But gas prices depend on current and future supplies and demands, he said.

"And the president's policies have made people very uncertain about the future of the supply of gasoline in this country, because we're not developing our own resources of oil, gas and coal in the way we should," he said.

Industry experts say there's almost nothing a president can do to hold down fuel prices over short periods. Obama says his policy of a balanced emphasis on petroleum production and newer, alternative fuels is the wisest course.

Friday's dinner honored Ovide Lamontagne, a tea party favorite in New Hampshire who unsuccessfully sought the GOP Senate nomination last year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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GOP hopefuls focus on Obama in NH appearance

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Republican presidential contest executed a soft launch this weekend, with eager but unofficial contenders focusing all their criticisms on President Barack Obama at a New Hampshire dinner ? and none on each other.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Jim Cole, AP

Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts speaks during a dinner sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, Friday in Manchester , N.H.

By Jim Cole, AP

Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts speaks during a dinner sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, Friday in Manchester , N.H.

Eventually, of course, they will have to say whether they're really candidates. And they'll have to critique one another if they hope to pull away from the pack. But that can wait.

On Friday night in Manchester, five likely GOP contenders hacked away almost in unison at liberals, Democrats and Obama. They denounced taxes, vilified government regulations and promised to repeal the president's 2010 health care law.

Their differences were subtle and stylistic, not harsh and policy-driven.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney painted himself as a free-market champion and philosophical heir to the nation's founders. He went tieless, unlike the great majority of men in the ballroom, in his effort to exchange his corporate image for that of a weekend suburban dad.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty portrayed himself as a can-do achiever who reined in government in a Democratic-leaning state.

The fast-talking Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann said Congress should not raise the debt ceiling despite economists' warnings of dire consequences.

Two other hopefuls, former Sen. Rick Santorum and pizza magnate Herman Cain, called for deeply lower taxes and an embrace of the nation's religious heritage. Cain, a longshot, got the evening's biggest laugh with a story about his grandfather driving on rutted roads and urging him to be "a big potato," not a small potato.

The forum was a packed dinner hosted by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity in Manchester, the largest city in the first-primary state. Each candidate spoke for eight minutes and then fielded two questions. They did not address each other.

Those who skipped the event included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, real estate mogul Donald Trump and 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee.

The audience responded about equally to all five speakers. No candidate landed a knockout punch or made a serious gaffe.

Romney spoke in broad terms, portraying himself as a lover of freedom and capitalism, while saying Obama looks to Europe for inspiration and guidance. He said the nation's greatness "is being challenged by those who would make the country more like Europe."

"We got it right, they got it wrong," he said.

Romney said the health care law he signed in Massachusetts, which required all residents to obtain insurance, reduced unfair public subsidies of people who could afford their own care. He again said he never would impose the plan nationwide. And he called for repealing the Democrats' 2010 health law. That plan resembles his state plan in some ways.

Pawlenty praised congressional Republicans' efforts to revamp Medicare but stopped short of endorsing every detail of the House-passed plan. He said that the eligibility age for Medicare should be raised and that Medicaid should be handed to states as a block grant program. As for Social Security, he said wealthier people should not receive the same inflation adjustments that others receive.

Pawlenty apologized again for his past support of a "cap-and-trade" system to limit greenhouse gas emissions and allow businesses to trade the right to produce them.

"It was a mistake, it was stupid, and I'm sorry," he said.

But he boasted of cutting taxes, tying teachers' pay to performance and curbing personal injury lawsuits in his Democratic-leaning state. "If we can do it there, we can do it anywhere," Pawlenty said.

Bachmann, a tea party favorite, called for a litany of tax cuts and an end to government bailouts of ailing industries and subsidies of mortgages. She said she would auction Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae "to the highest bidder," starting at 50 cents.

In rapid-fire fashion, Bachmann said she would "zero out" the capital gains tax and alternative minimum tax. She would scrap the U.S. tax code, she said, "and adopt a national consumption tax."

'Let's get rid of what we've got and start over," Bachmann said.

"And I won't rest until Obamacare is finally repealed, and it will happen," she added. Until then, she said, "we shouldn't give one dime to put this Frankenstein into place."

Romney got a jump on his rivals, criticizing Obama's energy policies during an afternoon photo-op at a Manchester gas station.

"There's almost no silver bullet to do anything of significance in the country," Romney said after greeting a few people filling their cars at a Manchester gas station. But gas prices depend on current and future supplies and demands, he said.

"And the president's policies have made people very uncertain about the future of the supply of gasoline in this country, because we're not developing our own resources of oil, gas and coal in the way we should," he said.

Industry experts say there's almost nothing a president can do to hold down fuel prices over short periods. Obama says his policy of a balanced emphasis on petroleum production and newer, alternative fuels is the wisest course.

Friday's dinner honored Ovide Lamontagne, a tea party favorite in New Hampshire who unsuccessfully sought the GOP Senate nomination last year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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U.S. Ambassador to Resign After Criticism Over Focus on Abortion, Faith

Associated Press

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. ambassador to Malta, an important Roman Catholic supporter of President Obama, said Sunday he would resign after a State Department report criticized him for spending too much time writing and speaking about his religious beliefs. 

In letters to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Douglas Kmiec said he would step down Aug. 15. He told The Associated Press that no one pressured him to leave.
Kmiec was a well-known conservative law professor and commentator before being taking the job in 2009. But a report this month by the State Department's inspector general rebuked Kmiec for concentrating too much on issues such as abortion and his faith, while neglecting his ambassadorial duties 

"I doubt very much whether one could ever spend too much time on this subject," Kmiec wrote Obama in his resignation letter. 

The audit was the second critical assessment of a politically appointed ambassador this year and illustrates the pitfalls that presidents can face when they appoint noncareer diplomats to ambassadorships, often as a reward for their political support. 

A February report blasted the 14-month tenure of Cynthia Stroum, a big Obama donor who became ambassador to Luxembourg. It described her service as fraught with personality conflicts, verbal abuse and questionable expenditures on travel, wine and liquor. Things were so bad in the wealthy European nation that some staff requested transfers to Iraq and Afghanistan, the report said. Stroum resigned effective Jan. 31, just days before the scathing assessment was made public. 

The audit of the U.S. Embassy in Malta said Kmiec's "outside activities have detracted from his attention to core mission goals" in the Mediterranean island nation, such as promoting maritime security and American business. It acknowledged the wide respect for Kmiec in the conservative, Roman Catholic country of Malta, but said his articles distracted him and embassy officials by forcing them to carefully review his writing. They upset administration officials in Washington, too, it noted. 

Kmiec responded by describing the criticism of his religious views was "especially odd" because his friendship with Obama began out of a common view that "too much of politics had been used to divide us, sometimes by excluding people of faith." 

Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine University and a lawyer in President Ronald Reagan's administration, was targeted by conservative Catholics and denied Communion by one priest for his support for Obama during the presidential campaign. 

In his letter to Clinton, Kmiec noted that he advised President George H.W. Bush in 1989 that government audits should focus on rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, and suggested that the criticism of his ambassadorship was in effect a "sting-back." He said inspectors use the audits to criticize support for Obama's policies such as his goal to promote interfaith dialogue. 

The State Department declined comment on Kmiec's announcement. 

The embassy in Malta has recently played an enhanced role as the nearest European country to Libya. More than 180 Americans were ferried to Malta when Muammar al-Qaddafi's forces violently cracked down on protesters seeking an end to his four-decade rule.

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Gabrielle Giffords' office puts focus on brain-injury care

By Jacquelyn Martin, AP

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., accompanied by Lauren Alfred, legislative assistant to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., speaks about treatment for traumatic brain injuries Thursday on Capitol Hill.

EnlargeCloseBy Jacquelyn Martin, AP

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., accompanied by Lauren Alfred, legislative assistant to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., speaks about treatment for traumatic brain injuries Thursday on Capitol Hill.

In a letter signed by chief of staff Pia Carusone, Giffords' office urged Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to include brain-trauma rehabilitation services as essential benefits in its Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, despite budget cuts looming in Congress.

RECOVERY: Giffords keeps defying oddsThree months after a gunman shot her in the head during an appearance at a shopping mall, Giffords is undergoing rehabilitation care at TIRR Memorial Hermann Medical Center in Houston. Her staff said they could not provide an update on her condition.

Lauren Alfred, Giffords' legislative aide, said the only reason Giffords has unlimited access to state-of-the-art rehabilitation care is that she was injured on the job, making her eligible for coverage through the federal Workmen's Compensation Act.

Members of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, led by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., joined the appeal. Pascrell also sent a letter to every member of Congress on Thursday asking for support.

Pascrell acknowledged that the benefits are expensive, but Keith Cicerone, director of neuropsychology at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, N.J., said studies show that providing appropriate care is less expensive than warehousing patients in nursing homes or providing round-the-clock home care.

"We appreciate the thoughtful ideas provided by congresswoman Giffords' staff and will certainly take them into account," HHS spokesman Richard Sorian said.

At least 1.7 million people in the USA suffer brain trauma each year, most often from car crashes, strokes, assaults, falls and gun-related incidents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Each year, about 50,000 brain-trauma patients die, 230,000 are hospitalized and up to 90,000 survive with long-term disabilities.

Yet insurance benefits for brain-trauma rehabilitation are limited and uneven, not just for civilians but for members of the military injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said Brent Masel, medical director of the Brain Injury Association of America. When the coverage runs out, he said, patients are put into nursing homes or sent to live with relatives.

Marie Beattie, of Lincoln University, Pa., said Thursday that she's locked in a battle with her insurer, a Blue Cross affiliate, and Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital, to make sure that her daughter, Corey, 18, gets the care she needs to boost her odds of recovering from an October car crash.

Bryn Mawr administrators told Beattie on Tuesday that Corey, who can't speak and is learning to lift her arms, would be sent to a nursing home Thursday to give her mother — a single parent with three children earning $53,000 a year — time to prepare to care for her at home.

Corey has already been denied by 20 nursing homes, Beattie said, because they're not equipped to care for patients with brain injuries. "Where is this child supposed to go?" she said.

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As Battle Rages Over This Year's Budget, House Panel Shifts Focus to 2012 GOP Budget

Graphic shows President Barack Obama and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan projected budget deficit for fiscal years 2011-2021. (AP)

Even though Congress is still locked in a showdown over this year's budget, House Republicans have already begun to push for passage of their proposal for next year's budget -- a proposal that supporters say will check the nation's spending binge, while critics describe it as an assault on the elderly and the poor.

The sweeping $3.5 trillion federal budget blueprint by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., lays the groundwork for a decade of cuts in spending, taxes and deficits. It would be tempered by a shift of costs to future retirees and features a reshaping of the government's two chief health care programs for the elderly and poor, Medicare and Medicaid.

Though the blueprint covers the entire reach of government, much of Wednesday's House Budget Committee debate focused on health and other social programs, from which Republicans were proposing to wring hundreds of billions in savings over the next 10 years. Ryan said that with sky-high deficits, the government needs to limit its mission to programs that are truly needed.

"We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls people to lives of complacencies and dependencies, into a permanent condition where they never get on their feet," he said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, said Republicans are protecting tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and the poor. The Republican budget proposes whittling the current 35 percent top tax rate on individuals and businesses to 25 percent.

"It doesn't reform Medicare, it deforms and dismantles it," Van Hollen said of the GOP's budget. As for Medicaid, the budget "rips apart the safety net" for poor and older people, he added.

The proposal is a non-binding road map whose taxing and spending changes are supposed to be enacted later in the year in future legislation. But Ryan's plan has no chance of being approved by the Democratic-run Senate, making it more of a statement of priorities that candidates are likely to embrace or attack during the 2012 campaigns.

As committee debate extended into the afternoon, Republicans batted down a parade of Democratic amendments that, like the budget itself, were designed to underscore political points. By party-line votes, the panel rejected one amendment blocking tax cuts for millionaires and another rejecting reductions in Medicaid benefits for elderly nursing home residents.

"It's unconscionable that Republicans are abandoning our seniors, including our sickest and most frail seniors, for a political cause" of reducing the size of government, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., said.

Republicans castigated Democrats for trying to curb the blueprint's tax cuts, saying today's level of taxes and regulation make it harder for businesses to create jobs.

"Why don't you guys like small-business people?" asked Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.

Liberal lawmakers bashed Ryan's proposal Wednesday as declaring war on the elderly and the poor.

"It is a disgrace to allow insurance companies to make more on the backs of seniors," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said.

But Ryan says his plan will save the health programs for the elderly and poor.

"We're saving Medicare, we're saving Medicaid and we're getting the debt paid off," he told Fox News.

White House spokesman Jay Carney made clear the president isn't a fan of Ryan's plan.

"Any program or plan that reduces our deficit must reflect American values of fairness and shared sacrifice," he said. "Ryan's plan fails this. It cuts taxes for millionaires and special interest while putting a greater burden on seniors, families struggling with children's disabilities and students who count on Pell grants."

But Ryan disputed that description.

"We repair the social safety net. And when it comes to taxes, we get rid of all these loopholes and deductions, which is what mostly wealthy people lose and lowering taxes as a consequence to get economic growth in this country."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Private Sector Leads Way on Economy in March, Focus Shifts to Sustaining Momentum

AP

Friday: President Obama gestures while speaking at a UPS facility in Landover, Md.

WASHINGTON -- With the economy showing signs of life in a new government report Friday, politicians on both sides sought to claim credit while turning their attention to ways to keep heading in that direction.

The jobless rate in March ticked down to a two-year low of 8.8 percent as the economy added 216,000 new jobs at the fastest two-month pace since before the recession began, offsetting layoffs by local governments, according to the Labor Department.

President Obama said despite the good news, "we have to keep the momentum going." He said he won't "rest until everyone who wants a job can find one."

The president, speaking at a UPS facility on a private-public partnership to assist companies' in creating fuel efficient vehicle fleets, said transitioning to a clean energy economy will help in that direction. 

"First, it reduces the chance that our families, our businesses and our economy will be held hostage to the whims of the oil market. Second, investments in clean energy have the potential to create an untold number of new jobs and new industries right here in the United States," Obama said.

Obama's chief economic adviser Austan Goolsbee told Fox News that the top priority is getting people back to work but he didn't offer specifics on how the administration planned to do that. Goolsbee pointed to the tax deal Obama struck with Republicans late last year that cut the payroll tax for 150 million workers, saying that improved after-tax wages at time when energy and food prices are on the rise.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a tweet that with the economy showing signs of strength, "it's imperative we find common ground and not do anything to jeopardize recovery."

That was a not-so-veiled reference to the contentious budget negotiations between House Republican leaders and Senate Democratic leaders over what and how much to cut from current spending levels as a government shutdown looms next Friday.

House Republicans have passed a budget plan to slash $61 billion; Democrats are willing to cut $33 billion; but Tea Party activists and freshman lawmakers elected with their support are insisting on $100 billion in cuts.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also made political hay out of the jobs report, crediting President Obama and congressional Democrats for taking steps to get the economy back on track and warning that Republicans are hellbent on sabotage by passing legislation that she claims would destroy more than 1 million jobs.

"Now is the time for Republicans to join Democrats to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and responsibly reduce the deficit instead of threatening our economic growth and our families' economic security," she said in a statement.

Republicans, who also cheered the economic news, fired back that runaway federal spending, higher taxes and burdensome regulations are threatening to derail the recovery.

"Decreasing unemployment numbers are always welcome news," said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Small Business Committee. "But this number could be better and more Americans could be back to work faster if we eliminate excessive government spending, lower taxes and remove government regulations that are strangling job creation and halting economic growth."

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, added that the tax code should be overhauled.

"While we have taken a good first step in restoring confidence to job creators, we must continue to remove the impediments to sustained economic growth," he said. 

The second straight month of brisk hiring is the latest sign that the economy is strengthening nearly two years after the recession ended.

Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove nearly all of the gains. They added 230,000 jobs last month, on top of 240,000 in February. It was the first time private-sector hiring topped 200,000 in back-to-back months since 2006 -- more than a year before the recession started.

The unemployment rate dipped from 8.9 percent in February to 8.8 percent in March. The rate has fallen a full percentage point over the last four months, the sharpest drop since 1983.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sought to claim party credit for the falling unemployment rate.

"Since Republicans convinced our colleagues across the aisle not to raise taxes, America has added nearly 650,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped from 9.4 percent to 8.8 percent," he said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, Washington's regulatory uncertainty is keeping many job creators on the sidelines and many millions of Americans unemployed," he added. "If we really want to kick our economy into high gear, we need to reign in federal bureaucrats who are making it difficult to predict future energy and health care costs, as well as access to credit."

Economists predict employers will add jobs at roughly the same pace for the rest of this year. That would generate about 2.5 million new positions. But that will make up only a small portion of the 7.5 million jobs that were wiped out during the recession.

And the economy faces other pitfalls. Local governments, wrestling with budget shortfalls, cut 15,000 workers last month and are expected to keep shedding jobs. Home prices are falling amid weak sales and a record number of foreclosures. Higher food and gas prices are leaving consumers with less disposable income to spend on other goods and services.

Campaign for America's Future, a progressive group, said layoffs by federal and local governments are sabotaging the recovery.

"To no one's surprise, the federal and state governments are sending out pink slips," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the group. "This means cops, teachers and firefighters are losing their jobs at time when where are no other jobs available. The economy is not firing on all cylinders, which is why this is the worst time to lay off middle class Americans."

The number of unemployed people dipped to 13.5 million in March, still almost double since before the recession began in December 2007.

Including part-time workers who would rather be working full time, plus people who have given up looking altogether, the percentage of "underemployed" people dropped to 15.7 percent in March.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that the turmoil in the Middle East, the nuclear crisis in Japan and the fiscal problems in Western Europe has undermined the global economy and could imperil the U.S. economic recovery.

"If these problems were to spill over to the U.S. economy, causing growth to slow below its potential rate of growth of between 2.5 - 2.75 percent, they could upset the modest job gains we've seen thus far," the chamber said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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