IN BRIEF
Miers' beliefs don't
dispel evangelical doubts
If Harriet Miers is confirmed, evan
gelicals can finally claim one of their
own on the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet
the spiritual journey that led her to be
bom again and spend 25 years affiliat
ed with a conservative church has not
eased concerns among Christians
about her views on abortion, gay rights
and other key social issues.
“Our lack of knowledge about Har
riet Miers, and the absence of a record
on the bench, give us insufficient infor
mation,” said Tony Perkins, of the con
servative Family Research Council.
Yet members of her longtime con
gregation, Valley View Christian
Church in Dallas, say her strong char
acter and faith are clear from her
dedication to their community.
Texas Supreme Court Justice
Nathan Hecht, Miers’ friend for 30
years, said he brought her to the
church when she wanted “a deeper
commitment to faith.”
After a childhood attending both Ro
man Catholic and Protestant churches,
she underwent a full-immersion bap
tism at Valley View in 1979, and later
taught Sunday school classes.
But church involvement alone
may not be enough to assuage
Christian conservatives.
John Green, an expert on religion
and politics at the University of Akron,
said Miers is failing to gain unequivo
cal support from some evangelicals
partly because they feel burned by
past nominees such as Justice
David Souter.
Green said evangelicals are acutely
aware of the diverse beliefs within
their own movement,
Valley View is part of a movement
known as Christian Churches and
Churches of Christ. These conservative
congregations grew from a 19th centu
ry reform movement that aimed to
break down denominational barriers
among Christians.
The churches tend to be more fo
cused on evangelizing than social is
sues, although Valley View ministers
have preached about the sanctity of
marriage and against abortion from
the pulpit, and the congregation has
provided voter registration information
to members.
Valley View’s mission statement
says the church believes the Bible is
the infallible word of God and salva
tion can be found only through Jesus.
But it also states “we try not to be dog
matic about matters on which believ
ers hold divergent views.”
Doug Foster, an Abilene Christian
University historian who specializes in
the independent Christian church
movement, said it would be “highly
unlikely” for a member of a congrega
tion like Valley View to support
abortion rights.
— The Associated Press
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Hurricane tab less than $150 billion
BY ANDREW TAYLOR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The federal gov
ernment’s tab for hurricane relief and
rebuilding efforts is likely to come to
less than $150 billion, Congress’ top
budget analyst said Thursday, an
amount significantly less than origi
nal estimates tossed about in the im
mediate aftermath of the disaster.
Congressional Budget Office Direc
tor Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the
House Budget Committee that his
agency now estimates damage to
homes, government buildings, oil re
fineries and businesses will total be
tween $70 billion and $130 billion. Of
that, at least $40 billion is covered by
private insurance, he said.
Those figures don’t include the im
mediate relief and rescue efforts,
which have been paid for out of the
$62 billion Congress has already ap
proved. About $20 billion of those
funds have been earmarked so far,
Federal Emergency Management
Agency chief R. David Paulison
told lawmakers.
But Holtz-Eakin said the total costs
to taxpayers will come nowhere close
to estimates of $300 billion to $400
billion made by some a month ago.
“There’s nothing that we’ve seen
so far that adds up to even approach
$200 billion,” he told The Associated
Press later in an interview. “Every
thing we’ve seen is in the vicinity ot
$150 billion or below.”
CBO also updated its estimate of
the budget deficit for the fiscal year
that ended Sept. 30, estimating $317
billion in red ink, significantly less
than 2004’s record $412 billion —
and $14 billion less than CBO
estimated just seven weeks ago.
The improvement in the deficit
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