LOOKING IN ON: WASHINGTON

Monday, July 10, 2006 | 7:14 a.m.

The Senate this week plans to take up the 2007 Homeland Security spending bill, and Democrats led by Minority Leader Harry Reid will use the occasion to launch an attack on what they call Republicans' underfunding of critical anti-terror programs.

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would be dropping Las Vegas from the list of cities qualifying for anti-terror funds, even though many terrorism experts consider the Strip's high rises prime targets. Nevada officials at the time criticized the department's analysis for failing to include the convention centers, Nellis Air Force Base or other important facilities.

By spring, the Homeland Security Department drew further criticism when it announced funding cuts for Washington and New York City - the two targets of the 2001 terror attacks.

"Republicans talk a good game, but they continue to underfund key Homeland Security-related projects and programs," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

But a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said Democrats' efforts hardly compare to the work Republicans have done to keep the nation safe.

"I don't think their rhetoric is going to change their track record on this issue, when Republicans and this administration have made security their No. 1 issue," said Frist spokeswoman Carolyn Weyforth.

Las Vegas ultimately won $7.7 million in anti-terror funding in fiscal 2006, it was announced this spring, a slight dip from the previous year's $8 million allotment. Giles Vanderhoof, Nevada's Homeland Security administrator, says Las Vegas is competing well and should remain on the anti-terror funding list.

Vanderhoof's team has been fighting Washington for the funding, making the case that the enormous flow of tourists to Las Vegas makes it a prime candidate for federal dollars.

Money goes to provide law enforcement and other emergency crews with equipment and training to protect us in a terror attack. About three dozen cities qualified for the chance to compete for funds this year. Keeping Las Vegas on the list means the city could continue vying for the money.

"I will fall off my chair if Las Vegas isn't on that list next year," Vanderhoof said Friday. "The data is irrefutable."

Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald is no stranger to the White House, having had lunch with President Bush there in 2003 before lending a hand to his re-election bid on the "W. Stands for Women" campaign in 2004.

Boggs McDonald has been a rising profile in the Republican Party ever since she launched a campaign to unseat Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley in 2002. She lost that race, but her bid won attention as potentially sending the first black Republican woman to Congress.

Now Bush has announced his intention to appoint Boggs McDonald to an administrative board at the Naval Academy. She is being tapped to serve on the academy's Board of Visitors, which oversees instruction, curriculum, fiscal affairs and other aspects of the Navy's academy in Annapolis, Md.

"The president believes that Ms. McDonald is well qualified for this position," White House spokesman Peter Watkins said Friday.

Boggs McDonald, who grew up in a military family - her parents only recently returned to the United States after living many years abroad - was thrilled at the opportunity to work on issues so near and dear to her heart.

"I am just tremendously honored to be given this responsibility," Boggs McDonald said Friday. "Because of my love for the military, it's a double honor."

This is the second presidential appointment for Boggs McDonald. Bush had previously appointed her in 2004 to the Commission of the Abe Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, which advocates for increased opportunities for college students to study overseas. She is resigning that post to take on the new appointment.

The Naval Academy's Board of Governors currently includes six members appointed by the president, as well as four senators and four members of the House. The board meets quarterly, three times at the Naval Academy and once on Capitol Hill.

Anti-abortion groups are gearing up to support Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign's bill that would prohibit minors from crossing state lines for abortions to avoid parental-consent laws in states where parents must sign off on a young woman's decision to have the procedure.

Similar bills have failed to gain traction in past sessions of Congress, and the National Right to Life Committee is urging supporters to call on senators to support the ban. The group says half the states now have laws requiring parental consent.

A version of the bill had briefly emerged last month as a foil during the minimum wage debate. Frist had suggested attaching the prohibition as an amendment to a bill from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that called for raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade. Both issues were sidelined.

Now indications are that the Republican-led Senate may bring the abortion bill up later this month.