31.   On the surface, Sen. Barbara Boxer got a mostly warm committee reception Tuesday for her bill to upgrade the Environmental Protection Agency to a full-fledged Cabinet department.

32.   Republican pledges to eliminate government programs, not to mention entire cabinet departments, have been replaced by urgent pleas to boost spending on everything from defense to agriculture.

33.   Right now at least four bills are potential line-item veto bait, and together they total hundreds of billions of dollars and would fund seven Cabinet departments.

34.   Ridge then traveled with the president to Des Moines, Iowa, where Bush gave a speech promoting the plan for a new Cabinet department.

35.   Scholars and political appointees at the Cabinet departments agree that Cabinet officers often become more effective the longer they serve in their posts.

36.   Republicans no longer seem intent on forcing showdowns over eliminating entire Cabinet departments or slashing spending on entitlement programs, and appear willing to allow overall spending to grow.

37.   Since then, the five Cabinet departments targeted by Bush have been busy making adjustments.

38.   Stephen Moore, the president of the Club for Growth, an anti-tax political action committee, said any new Cabinet department creates a demand for money.

39.   The administration reportedly is studying the wholesale elimination of some Cabinet departments such as energy, housing or transportation.

40.   The book jacket lists him as having been an officer in six Cabinet departments.