In Today’s Times:
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The director of the National Security Agency says the surveillance programs unveiled in leaked documents over the past two weeks help the agency prevent terrorist attacks just as Congress asked after the Sept. 11 attacks, David E. Sanger, Charlie Savage and Michael S. Schmidt write.
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Keith Bradsher explains the complicated, if not daunting, path ahead for Edward J. Snowden, the federal contractor who claimed to be the source of the leaked documents and who plans to fight his extradition to the United States.
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With abortion opponents having won a series of victories on reproductive rights in the states, Republicans advanced a bill to the House floor on Wednesday that bans abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy. Jeremy W. Peters explains that the move tests a new strategy “that aims to focus public attention on the disputed theory that fetuses can feel pain.â€
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Debate over a bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws has turned to border security as the bill’s architects look to gain Republican support for the legislation, Julia Preston and Ashley Parker write.
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Jennifer Steinhauer explains how the Obama administration’s is using executive measures to tighten gun control after legislation was defeated in Congress, a move that has been met with reluctant acceptance from gun control advocates and outrage from gun rights groups and their allies in Congress.
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The Obama administration is blocking or delaying several pending antipollution rules, despite the president’s promise in his State of the Union address to act on energy and climate change if Congress did not, John M. Broder writes.
Happening in Washington:
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Economic reports expected Thursday include May retail sales and weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., followed at 10 a.m. by April business inventories and weekly mortgage rates.
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At 10 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold an oversight hearing focused on the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the agency’s departing director, Robert S. Mueller III.
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A Senate Appropriations subcommittee will examine the state of the nation’s roads and bridges at a hearing on infrastructure set for 10 a.m.
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Representative John Dingell of Michigan will meet with the president at the White House at 11:40 a.m., before a 3:30 p.m. ceremony on Capitol Hill where he will be honored as the longest-serving member of Congress.
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Shortly after 5 p.m., the president will speak at a White House ceremony marking L.G.B.T. Pride Month.
