Oil execs asked to share wealth

WASHINGTON — Top executives of three major oil companies will be asked by senators next week why some of their industry's estimated $96 billion in record profits this year shouldn't be used to help people having trouble paying their energy bills.

Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil, Jim Mulva, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, and John Hofmeister, president of the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell, will be among the industry executives to be questioned at a Senate hearing, according to congressional and industry officials.

The three companies together earned more than $22 billion during the July-September quarter this year when crude-oil prices soared briefly to $70 a barrel and motorists were paying well over $3 gallon at the pump after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

On Tuesday, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Finance Committee, said oil companies "should do their part" and donate some of their third-quarter earnings to low-income families and senior citizens having trouble paying energy bills.

Money trimmed from foreign-aid bill

Lawmakers on Tuesday slashed President Bush's funding request for a key program in his campaign to spread democracy around the world.

Overall, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a $20.9 billion foreign-aid bill, nearly $2 billion less than Bush had requested. The bill is expected to be approved by the House and Senate and then sent to the president for his signature.

Bush had wanted $3 billion for the Millennium Challenge Account, a program that gives countries extra money if they pursue political, economic and human-rights reforms. Lawmakers, however, responding in part to tight budget constraints, approved $1.8 billion for the program; that's still $282 million above last year.

"Morning-after pill" comment period ends

A two-month comment period on making the Plan B "morning-after pill" available without a prescription ended Tuesday, with as many as 10,000 comments apparently submitted but no indication of when or how the Food and Drug Administration will proceed with the controversial application.

The agency's next step "will depend on what we see in the comments," said FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza.

The agency's unusual handling of the Plan B application, which is going through its third FDA review, has angered advocates of the emergency contraceptive. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday that they have helped collect 10,000 signatures on a petition calling on the FDA to act promptly on the application.

Also

Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, said Tuesday he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term in January 2007, after serving 25 years.

Compiled from The Associated Press and The Washington Post