President Barack Obama's pick to head the Commerce Department criticized a federal labor board's lawsuit against the Boeing Co. on Tuesday over the aerospace giant's decision to locate a new plant in South Carolina.

The nominee, John Bryson, recently stepped down from Boeing's board.

Bryson's comments came at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on his nomination to succeed Gary Locke, whom Obama has named to become U.S. ambassador to China.

At the session, Republicans raised questions about Bryson's views on the environment and criticized the Obama administration for what they said is over-regulation of businesses. They also reiterated their threat to block Senate approval of Bryson's nomination until Obama sends the panel trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.

Republicans asked Bryson about the National Labor Relations Board's suit against Boeing, which accuses the aircraft builder of opening a plant in South Carolina in retaliation against union workers in Washington state who went on strike in 2008. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said the NLRB action was "an unprecedented violation of a company's ability" to locate its facilities where it wants to.

The Senate has confirmed White House lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to succeed Justice Elena Kagan as U.S. solicitor general.

With the 72-16 vote, Verrilli will fill a post that has been vacant since the Senate voted Kagan to her Supreme Court seat last August. The solicitor general represents the executive branch of government before the Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama named Verrilli as Kagan's successor last January. A month ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nominee by a 17-1 vote.

Verilli has most recently served as a deputy counsel to Obama. He previously worked at the Justice Department as an associate deputy attorney general.

The GOP-controlled House on Thursday passed a $42.3 billion budget for the government's homeland security efforts after a debate that demonstrated resistance for some of the spending cuts required under austere budget times.

The measure passed 231-188 after lawmakers eased cuts to popular grant programs for local fire departments and after GOP conservatives tried but failed in several attempts to add millions of dollars to a variety of border security initiatives.

It's the first of the 12 annual spending bills funding the day-to-day operations of federal agencies for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. It's also the first concrete step to implement the budget blueprint approved by House Republicans in April.

The homeland security measure bears a $1.1 billion cut of almost 3 percent from the spending levels for the ongoing budget year that were enacted in April in a compromise between House Republicans and President Barack Obama.

But far more stringent spending bills — they contain cuts to health research, student aid, food aid for low-income pregnant women and energy efficiency programs — will follow this summer.

Republicans focused the homeland security cuts on port and transit security grants, awards for high-risk cities, and grants to local fire departments to help them with salaries and equipment purchases, proposing to slash them by $2.1 billion below Obama's requests — cuts of more than half.

On Wednesday a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers restored $320 million in cuts to grants for fire departments by a sweeping 333-87 vote, but only by imposing an unrealistic cut on the agency's bureaucratic operations.

Track and field legend Carl Lewis finally found a court willing to help him get into the race for the New Jersey state Senate — but there's a chance his run will be fleeting.

A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Lewis' name should be included when the ballots are printed for the 8th Legislative District Democratic state Senate primary. While the three-judge panel granted that emergency request, it didn't make a final ruling on whether he's eligible for office.

Lewis' lawyer, William Tambussi, said that under the ruling, "the voters, not a partisan elected official, will decide who should be the state senator in the 8th Legislative District."

Republicans contend that Lewis does not meet the state requirement that a candidate live in New Jersey for four years before seeking a seat in the state Senate.

Lewis, 49, grew up in Willingboro before becoming one of track's biggest stars and a nine-time Olympic gold medalist. He bought a home in New Jersey in 2005 and has been assisting with the track team at Willingboro High School since 2007. He went to college in Texas, and he has a home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and a business in Los Angeles. He registered to vote in New Jersey only last month, just before he announced his candidacy.