NPR 2010-12-03

The US House is expected to vote this hour on whether to extend expiring tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports the issue's been generating heated debate.

Democrats 1 say they want to keep lower tax rates from middle- and lower-income workers especially. Those same tax rates would apply to a certain amount of income for wealthy people, but the Democrats do not want to lower tax rates or keep low tax rates from much more money that the wealthy people make. They want to instead allow that revenue to come into the federal government to pay for programs and in fact help fill the deficit 2 hole.

NPR's Andrea Seabrook on Capitol Hill.

The chairman of the Joint 3 Chiefs of Staff is in favor of repealing 5 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Admiral Mike Mullen sought to make that case on Capitol Hill today.

"The report indicates that one of the factors distressing 6 to those who oppose repeal 4 are fears that new policies will not be implemented 7 fairly, evenly and dispassionately. Let me be clear: nothing will change about our standards of conduct."

But Arizona Senator and military veteran John McCain expressed doubts today that the repeal likely would not cause widespread disruptions in the military as a new Pentagon study suggests.

NATO says that three international service members have been killed in Afghanistan in the past two days. More from NPR's Corey Flintoff.

NATO says two service members were killed today—one in a fight with insurgents 8 in the south and the other by a roadside bomb in the eastern Afghanistan. A home-made bomb killed another service member in the south yesterday. NATO doesn't give details about the nationalities of service members killed in Afghanistan, leaving that to the individual countries involved. Fifty-five international troops were killed in Afghanistan in November. Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO troops are still trying to learn the fate of seven Afghan mine clearance 9 workers, who were captured Wednesday by insurgents in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Kabul.

The White House is pressing Congress to extend unemployment insurance to about two million out-of-work Americans. Their coverage 10 is due to expire this month.

Democratic Congressman 11 Charles Rangel of New York confronts his fellow lawmakers today to hear his punishment for violating House ethics 12 rules. A bipartisan panel had recommended censure 13 which comes up for a vote in the full House shortly. Rangel is expected to argue that he does not deserve censure because he's not corrupt 14, but the House Ethics Committee determined 15 the censure is justified 16 because it ruled Rangle was guilty of fundraising and financial misconduct.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up 100 points at 11,355; NASDAQ Composite Index up 26 at 2,576.

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NASA's out with new information that's challenging conventional ideas about where life can exist. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports scientists have discovered a bacterium 17 that can survive on a diet of arsenic 18.

One of the truisms of science is that life isn't possible without six elements, one of which is phosphorus, but a young scientist at NASA wondered whether that truism was really true. She thought arsenic, which is chemically very similar to phosphorus, might work as a substitute. So, she and other researchers began studying tiny organisms taken from the mud of Mono Lake in California. That mud contains a lot of arsenic. And they found at least one bacterium that was able to adapt to a diet that includes lots of arsenic, but no phosphorus. What's more, the bacterium appeared to be using arsenic instead of phosphorus in its DNA 19. Scientists say that suggests organisms could exist in places on Earth or elsewhere in the universe that were previously 20 thought incapable 21 of sustaining life. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

President Obama appears to be making headway in his push to get Senate ratification 22 of a nuclear treaty with Russia. Leading Republican Lamar Alexander said today that he is "wide open" to supporting the treaty if the administration addresses his concerns about modernizing 23 the remaining US nuclear arsenal 24.

Iraq's Interior Ministry's been calling for the death penalty of 39 imprisoned 25 al-Qaeda-linked suspects before they have gone on trial for allegedly plotting to attack targets in Baghdad. Minister Jawad al-Bolani announced today that he is confident the men will be found guilty.

Dow's now up 98 points.