"I thank you for playing the ... clip of Congressmen Issa explaining that I was not an appropriate witness. I can’t think whose voices would be more appropriate than the women who are affected by this policy."

Congressional Quarterly

A day before Maine was to hold more caucuses, the state Republican Party on Friday afternoon reaffirmed that Mitt Romney was still leading Ron Paul in the caucuses that had been held so far.

The party recounted the votes for its nonbinding straw poll after complaints from some towns, like Belfast and Waterville, that their votes were omitted from the official tally that party officials announced last Saturday.

Those results showed Mr. Romney ahead of Mr. Paul by 194 votes; the results of the recount announced Friday showed him ahead by 239 votes.

Only 5,814 ballots have been cast so far in Maine’s convoluted Republican caucuses, amounting to about 2 percent of the state’s registered Republicans.

But these results are awaiting caucuses that have not yet been held. Still to come are votes from rural Washington County, where caucuses will be held Saturday, as well as towns in a few other counties around the state.

The party had planned all along to announce the results of its straw poll last Saturday knowing that several towns would not have voted. But it did not predict the uproar that ensued, much of it initially from Paul supporters who were furious that the results did not include many towns that might have given them the edge.

The outrage grew as the new media further scrutinized the caucus process, and many Maine officials became embarrassed at the Byzantine nature and the party’s complicated rules.

Party officials now say they will not announce the final results of the straw poll until March 10, after all towns have voted and reported their results.

The presidential straw poll is a meaningless beauty contest unrelated to the more important selection of the state’s 24 delegates, which will take place at a state party convention in May.

The distended process, and the fact that the delegates, once selected, are not bound to vote for a particular candidate, have reduced the state’s relevance in the national nominating process.

CAIRO — The Islamist party that leads the new Egyptian Parliament is threatening to review the 1979 peace treaty with Israel if the United States cuts off aid to the country over a crackdown on American-backed nonprofit groups here.

The Obama administration and Congressional leaders have already warned Egypt that the United States might cut off its annual aid to the country, which in the most recent budget came to $1.3 billion in military supplies and about $250 million in other subsidies, including some money directed to the nonprofit groups under investigation. At least two senators have introduced legislation that could curtail the aid, and the Brotherhood released its statements on Thursday as the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the matter.

Lawmakers introduced bills in both chambers Thursday intended to close a loophole that enables for-profit schools to take advantage of G.I. Bill aid to rake in federal money.

Two of the sponsors — Senator Tom R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, and Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California and a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — told reporters the law would focus on for-profit schools that accept federal funds to educate veterans but sometimes leave them unprepared to enter the civilian workforce.

“It is clear that the business model of some of these for-profit colleges is to become totally reliant on federal funds, making billions in the process and spending a paltry amount on actually educating the students they spend billions to entice,” Ms. Speier said.

In 1998, Congress instituted the so-called “90-10 rule,” requiring that for every nine dollars of tuition covered by federal aid, there should be at least one dollar coming from private funds.

The law would close a loophole that counts military education benefits differently from Department of Education aid, which allowed schools to circumvent the rule by designating veterans’ education benefits as if the money were not paid by the federal government.

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