Senate rejects rival GOP, Democratic budgets in bid to boost compromise chances

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Democratic-led Senate on Wednesday emphatically rejected a budget-slashing House spending bill as too severe. It then immediately killed a rival Democratic plan that was derided by moderate Democrats as too timid in its drive to cut day-to-day agency budgets.

The votes to scuttle the competing measures were designed, ironically, to prompt progress. The idea was to show tea party-backed GOP conservatives in the House that they need to pare back their budget-cutting ambitions while at the same time demonstrating to Democratic liberals that they need to budge, too.

White House budget director Jacob Lew said the votes should turn a page and that talks between the administration and Republicans are likely to become more productive. The negotiators are unlikely to meet a March 18 deadline, which means another stopgap budget extension would be required to keep the government from shutting down.

“We want to come to a reasonable outcome,” Lew said in an interview. “We’ve made it clear that that’s not the end, that there are more savings. But we’ve also said that there’s a line beyond which we can’t go.”

Top Senate Democrats visited with Obama on Wednesday afternoon to plot strategy. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a participant, declined to comment afterward, other than to say he recognizes his party will have to move in the GOP’s direction.

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Oil installations ablaze in Libya as battles rage between Gadhafi forces and rebels

RAS LANOUF, Libya — A giant yellow fireball shot into the sky, trailed by thick plumes of black smoke Wednesday after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi set two oil installations ablaze and inflicted yet more damage on Libya’s crippled energy industry.

In the west, Gadhafi claimed victory in recapturing Zawiya, the city closest to the capital that had fallen into opposition hands. The claim could not immediately be verified; phone lines there have not been working during a deadly, six-day siege.

State TV showed a crowd of hundreds, purportedly in Zawiya’s main square, shouting “The people want Colonel Gadhafi!”

The fall of Zawiya to anti-Gadhafi residents early on in the uprising that began Feb. 15 illustrated the initial, blazing progress of the opposition. But Gadhafi seized the momentum, battering the rebels with airstrikes and artillery fire and repulsing their westward march toward the capital, Tripoli.

Gadhafi’s successes have left Western powers struggling to come up with a plan to support the rebels without becoming ensnared in the complex and fast-moving conflict. On Wednesday, a high-ranking member of the Libyan military flew to Cairo with a message for Egyptian army officials from Gadhafi, but no further details were known.

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NPR CEO Vivian Schiller quits after executive taped criticizing tea party, questioning funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller resigned Wednesday under pressure, a day after an undercover video showed one of her executives on a hidden camera calling the tea party racist and saying the news organization would be better off without taxpayer money.

The shake-up comes at a critical time. Conservative politicians are again pressing to end congressional funding for NPR, money the organization said it needs to keep operating public radio and television stations in some of the nation’s smallest communities. The White House defended the funding, saying there remains a need for public broadcasting.

Vivian Schiller also faced criticism for her firing of analyst Juan Williams over comments he made about Muslims. She told The Associated Press that the recent remarks made by her fellow executive Ron Schiller were outrageous and unfortunate, and her staying on would only hurt NPR’s fight for federal money.

“I did not want to leave NPR. There’s a lot of pressure on NPR right now,” Vivian Schiller told AP.

On Tuesday, conservative activist James O’Keefe posted a video showing NPR executive Ron Schiller bashing the tea party movement. The video shows two activists, working for O’Keefe, posing as members of a fake Muslim group at a lunch meeting with Ron Schiller, who is not related to Vivian Schiller. The men offered NPR a $5 million donation and engage in a wide-ranging discussion about tea party Republicans, pro-Israel bias in the media and anti-intellectualism.

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Judge sets hearing to determine if suspect in Tucson shooting spree competent to stand trial

TUCSON, Ariz. — A federal judge on Wednesday scheduled a May 25 hearing to determine if the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage that critically injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is competent to stand trial.

Jared Lee Loughner, who smiled as he was led into the courtroom, appeared before U.S. District Judge Larry Burns in khaki prison clothes, his once-shaved head now featuring short, dark hair and side burns.

He pleaded not guilty to a slew of federal charges, including trying to assassinate Giffords, attempting to kill two of her aides and murdering federal judge John Roll and Giffords staffer Gabe Zimmerman.

Loughner also is charged with causing the deaths of four others who weren’t federal employees, causing injury and death to participants at a “federally provided activity” and using a gun in a crime of violence.

Wednesday’s hearing was attended by victims’ family members, survivors, reporters and Loughner’s own father. Loughner likely will also face state charges stemming from the Jan. 8 attack at a Giffords event outside a Tucson grocery store.