Abramoff assisted Zachares in obtaining his committee post. Zachares left Young's staff in 2005. Young's office declined to comment Tuesday.

"Guilty, your honor," Zachares told U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who had asked what plea he would enter to a single count of conspiracy. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines will probably face two years or less.

After the court appearance, defense attorney Edward MacMahon declined to say whether Young knew what Zachares was doing on behalf of Abramoff.

Zachares agreed to cooperate with the government's continuing investigation and, outside the courthouse, MacMahon reinforced that point.

The former Republican aide is the fifth congressional staffer to plead guilty in the Abramoff scandal, including two former aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Zachares provided information to Abramoff about pending congressional actions on the reorganization of federal agencies into the Homeland Security Department.

Zachares said in court that Abramoff and his lobbying team supplied him with $30,000 worth of tickets to sporting events and concerts on more than 40 occasions in the 18 months from mid-2002 to early 2004.

Zachares accompanied Abramoff and six others, including Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., on a $160,000 golf junket to Scotland in 2003, according to the conspiracy count to which Zachares pleaded guilty.

Feeney's office said the Justice Department has contacted the congressman to request more information and that Feeney is cooperating.

Early this year, Feeney agreed to reimburse the government $5,643 for the Scotland trip.

According to a statement of facts that Zachares signed on March 14, he "falsely reported the cost of transportation, lodging and meals as only $5,643, a figure coordinated with Abramoff to be substantially identical as the figures other attendees, including Representative .3, would report."Representative .3" refers to Feeney. After Tuesday's guilty plea, Feeney's office said only that the congressman "is anxious to discuss this matter at the appropriate time."

"As the investigation or the hearings went forward, it was clear that the attorney general broke no law, did no wrongdoing. And this is an honest, honorable man in whom I have confidence," the president said.

Bush also maintained Wolfowitz was honest in answering every query that was posed at him in the panel hearing.

"The Attorney General went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer -- honestly answer. And in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job."

The President also stressed the Attorney General "has the right" to recommend the replacement of attorneys.

"One of the things that's important for the American people to understand is that the Attorney General has a right to recommend to me to replace US attorneys. US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. In other words, we have named them and I have the right to replace them with somebody else," Bush remarked.

Virginia Tech shooting gunman Seung-Hui Cho was technically prohibited from purchasing firearms after a Virginia court found Cho to be an "imminent danger to himself" in December 2005 and issued an order for Cho to receive psychiatric treatment, the New York Times reported Friday. Under federal law, persons "who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" are prohibited from possessing or receiving "any firearm or ammunition." US federal firearm regulations define "adjudicated as a mental defective" to include a determination by a court that the person "is a danger to himself."

Virgina is among 22 states currently submitting mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which requires Federal Firearms Licensees to request background checks on individuals attempting to receive a firearm. Despite being the leading state in reporting mental disqualifications, Virginia's state rules on "mental disqualifications to firearms purchase" differs from the federal regulations and only require submission of records of persons who have been "involuntarily committed" or ruled mentally "incapacitated." Legislation seeking to improve NICS enforcement has been introduced in the House of Representatives in the past three terms, but has never become law.

The District of Columbia currently has a delegate in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is able to vote in committee and on some amendments, but is not allowed to vote on the final passage of a bill. A February report by the Congressional Research Service flagged the potential unconstitutionality of any bill granting a House vote for the District, focusing on the language in Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution that the House is to be comprised by the "people of the several States."

Democratic proponents of the legislation argued that government involvement in drug pricing negotiations would result in lower health care costs for the elderly and taxpayers. Republicans countered that the Medicare program is already achieving lower-than-expected drug costs for seniors through the use of private insurance companies and government intervention would result in a disruptive "takeover" of the price negotiation process.

Last week, the Washington State House of Representatives approved a domestic partnership bill (SB 5336) that grants same-sex couples hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights when there is no will, and the power to authorize medical procedures, such as organ donation and autopsies. Earlier this month, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill to allow civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

US Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) announced Tuesday that the Senate Appropriations Committee he chairs has agreed to adopt new standards governing so-called earmarks inserted by legislators into bills to fund special spending projects. The proposed ethics and earmark reform legislation will define the term "earmark" and will require that all earmarks be clearly identified in the committee bill and report, both of which will be published on the Internet. In addition, the legislation will mandate that Senators certify that neither they nor their spouses have a financial interest in any earmark. Byrd said the Senate Appropriations Committee will follow the standards until they are enacted into law. The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 passed by the US Senate in a 96-2 vote in January proposed similar earmark reform rules, but that legislation has yet to receive approval from the US House of Representatives.

In September, the US House adopted a new rule requiring lawmakers to disclose their sponsorship of earmarks. H.Res. 1000 provides that earmarks can no longer be inserted anonymously and requires that bills coming out of committee, bills containing tax measures, and conference reports list all earmarks and the names of the congresspersons who requested them.