Midday Roundup: House, White House spar over spy program funding

No money for you. House lawmakers are expected to vote later today on an amendment to next year’s defense appropriations bill that would cut funding to any National Security Agency initiative that collects data from anyone not subject to an international terrorism or foreign intelligence investigation. In a statement issued late yesterday, the White House urged the House to move on. The clear message: There’s nothing to see here. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the appropriations amendment an attempt to “hastily dismantle one of our intelligence community’s counterterrorism tools. … This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process.” That’s obviously in contrast to the intelligence programs themselves, which were part of an informed, open, and deliberative process. Right?

Captured. Indian officials have arrested the principal of a primary school where 24 children died after eating poisoned lunches. After disappearing for nine days, Meena Kumari was evidently headed to turn herself in when authorities apprehended her. Health officials traced the source of the poison—pesticide—to cooking oil Kumari bought from a store owned by her husband. They suspect the oil was stored in a container formerly used for the deadly chemical. The children all came from poor families in the village of Dharmasati Gandawa in Bihar’s Saran district and participated in a free lunch program.

Bad, bad boy. Political pundits said New Yorkers should be prepared for more revelations of bad behavior from New York City mayoral candidate and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner. Most people expected them to come in the form of additional photos and internet messages from the 2011 debacle that forced him to resign from Congress. But yesterday’s “sexting” revelation was entirely new. Well, almost. Coming once again before the media to apologize for his actions, Weiner admitted he continued to send lewd messages and photos to women as recently as a year ago. But he swears he’s a changed man. And his wife, Huma Abedin, appeared with him to testify to his change of heart. She said she’s forgiven him and so should voters. Well, maybe, but New York’s media power brokers aren’t having any of it. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Daily News all called for him to drop out of the mayoral race immediately.

Illegal marriage. Officials in Montgomery County, Pa., defied the state’s same-sex marriage ban this morning by issuing marriage licenses to two homosexual couples. After getting one of the licenses, two women, Alicia Terrizzi and Loreen Bloodgood, got married in what the Associated Press described as a “religious” ceremony. County Commission Chairman Josh Shapiro authorized the illegal licenses, saying it was just a matter of time before “marriage equality” comes to the state. But if similar cases in other states are any indication, courts are likely to void any licenses issued illegally.