WASHINGTON IN BRIEF

Murtha Halts Campaign For House Leadership

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) abruptly shelved his leadership bid yesterday five days after his surprise announcement that he would seek a top post if Democrats win control of the House in November.

The news Friday stunned many of Murtha's Democratic colleagues -- in particular, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), the top deputy to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

He has been the presumed front-runner for the second-in-command position, if Democrats emerge victorious.

Though short-lived, Murtha's campaign took several odd turns.

Although many House Democrats regarded Murtha's announcement as premature, Pelosi pointedly refused to comment on it. That raised suspicions among some of her colleagues that she was encouraging the bid.

Murtha, a strong supporter of the military, gained national prominence by calling last November for a rapid troop withdrawal from Iraq. Long one of Pelosi's closest advisers, he helped engineer her victory over Hoyer in 2001 for the Democratic whip job.

Word that Murtha was suspending his campaign until after the elections came not from Murtha, but from Pelosi, who announced the decision in a news release.

Pelosi said Murtha has acted "in the spirit of unity to achieve our goal of winning a Democratic majority."

Radicals Are Difficult To Disrupt, Official Says

U.S. counterterrorism officials say they are uncovering homegrown Islamic radicals in the United States who lack formal ties to al-Qaeda and operate independently. Those independent qualities -- combined with the radicals' ability to organize and plot on the Internet -- make them particularly difficult to disrupt, retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In a hearing on the changing face of terrorism, Redd said the threat from homegrown extremism is a trend that was seen in the successful mass transit attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

Effort to Stop Pay Raise For Lawmakers Fails

The House easily defeated an effort to block a 2 percent annual pay raise that would boost lawmakers' salaries by $3,300, to $168,500.

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) had sought a House vote to block the cost-of-living adjustment, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it. In the early days of GOP control of Congress, lawmakers routinely denied themselves the boost. Last year, the Senate voted 92 to 6 to deny the raise but quietly surrendered the position in House-Senate talks.

As part of an ethics reform bill in 1989, members gave up the ability to accept pay for speeches and made annual cost-of-living pay increases automatic unless they vote otherwise. The pay issue has been linked to the annual Transportation and Treasury department spending bill, under consideration on the House floor, because that measure stipulates raises for civil servants.