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President Clinton today unveiled the detailes of his 1.64 trillion dollar budget. It includes a new tax credit for families with small children, and a tax deduction for college fees, while it increases capital gains taxes for some investors. The budget increases federal spending by four per cent. The White House says the budget will lead to a balanced budget by the year 2002, and the President called on Congress to pass a balanced budget before the election. But Republican leaders were critical today. NPR's Mara Liasson reports. (5:00) -b- 9. IRS & 2nd BAPTIST - NPR's Lynn Neary reports on a new initiative that targets churches for I-R-S investigations. "Americans United for Separation of Church and State" filed a complaint today with the IRS against Second Baptist Church of Houston. The complaint accuses the church of violating its tax exempt status by publishing specific, partisan voting instructions in a project pamphlet. Second Baptist Church of Houston is one of the largest churches in the country with more than 22-thousand members.

Commentator Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, says the anti-terrorism bill that just passed the House is a sham. He says it does nothing to prevent terrorism because it is a piece of toothless legislation. Foxman adds there is no contradiction between freedom and security.

NPR's John Ydstie reports the unemployment report dropped sharply in February to 5.5 percent. Data released by the Labor Department this morning show exceptionally strong job creation last month. Economists said the employment report shows an economy on the mend that will not need further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

The Senate voted 59-40 today to pass a product liability bill. The legislation would cap the amount of punitive damages businesses would have to pay in lawsuits involving faulty products. President Clinton had threatened to veto the bill, but today said he would reconsider if some changes were made in it. NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports.

NPR's Steve Inskeep visits The Strand, a used bookstore in New York City, to find out what happens to all those political biographies and other books tied to campaigns, once the campaigns are over -- and sometimes even before.

Film critic Bob Mondello uses the "Celluloid Closet", a new documentary about Hollywood's treatment of gays, as a prism to examine "It's My Party" and "The Birdcage".

The House is due to vote today on a bill overhauling immigration laws. One of its provisions would allow states to deny public schooling to children of illegal immigrants. In addition, the House may follow the Senate's lead by splitting the measure into two parts, separating rules dealing with legal immigrants. The separation could kill attempts to sharply limit the number of legal immigrants. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. Updates are expected. Please be prepared to do new BBS if you use any of these details.

arranged Middle East Terrorism Summit in Cairo next week, and the impact of the recent Hamas bombings on Israeli Prime Minister Peres political future.

In the wake of the suicide bombings in Israel, the House is once again taking up a controversial anti-crime bill. The bill would give federal law enforcement officials new rights in their investigations of terrorist crimes. But NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that opponents from across the political spectrum say these measures would infringe on privacy rights and would inevitably lead to the conviction and imprisonment of innocent people.