House and Senate lawmakers last week passed the Respect for Fallen Heroes Act (HR 5037), sending it to the President on May 25. They had hoped to have President Bush sign the legislation before Memorial Day; he signed it on Memorial Day, May 29. The measure restricts the “vile, offensive, and organized protests” that have taken place at military funerals around the country, said Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. It prohibits demonstrations within 150 feet of a road, pathway, or other route of ingress or egress from national cemeteries either 60 minutes before or 60 minutes after a funeral. The distance was a compromise the Senate reached with the House, which had wanted a 500-foot restriction.
The cost of the nuclear AGM-181 Long-Range Stand Off missile has come down slightly and the program is on track, but several technologies it relies on are still considered immature, the Government Accountability Office found in a report. Meanwhile, the GAO also assessed the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile as…