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The $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut plan is now before Congress. How it is resolved could be defining event in the early stages of the Bush presidency. Robert talks with David Brooks, Senior Editor at the Weekly Standard, and E.J. Dionne, columnist for the Washington Post about their views on the political importance of the tax cut bill.

The House of Representatives approved today the main portion of President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut. Republican leaders were exultant about passing the president's prize proposal in record time. The vote followed party lines, despite weeks of courtship by the White House. And the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a bipartisan group of centrists is insisting on modifications. NPR's David Welna reports.

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy is the youngest son of the late Robert Kennedy. He edited a collection of his father's private journal entries called Make Gentle The Life of this World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy. He reads from the speech his father gave on the night that Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated. (REBROADCAST from 6

Scott Simon talks with Sherry Sabin. Mrs. Sabin's sixth grade class contributed the first three hundred and seventy-eight dollars of the 1.6 million dollars it took to build the newest addition to the FDR memorial - a statue of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair. The statue was unveiled on Wednesday.

NPR's Margot Adler reports on what some are decrying as the "suburbanization" of New York City. She talks to one design critic who laments that national franchises are replacing the city's local greasy spoons, coffeehouses and boutiques, and taking over street-life. (6:40

Scott talks with the Doyenne of Dirt, Ketzel Levine, about noxious weeds. Ketzel says that one region's common garden plant can be another regions invasive pest. (6:00) NOTE: There is plenty more dirt to be found in our Talking Plants section.

NPR's Renee Montagne reports on a group of six Thai elephants that have been honing their musical abilities. They just released their first CD. Hear a song from that CD entitled Temple Music. You can find out more at www.mulatta.org. (6:43-8:20)

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on a Supreme Court decision that hospitals cannot reinstate a practice of testing pregnant patients for drugs and turning over the results to the police, unless they get the woman's permission first. The justices ruled 6-3 that testing women who did not understand that the results could be used to prosecute them was a violation of the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports that President Bush is on the road. This week he'll visit four states to promote his budget proposals, including his $1.6 trillion tax-cut over a ten-year period. Today, the president flies to Chicago.

The fifth and final season of the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire has its season premiere Jan. 6. Fresh Air's TV critic has a preview.