DOG DAYS FOR "HOLIDAYS"

Among the GOP's cost-cutting votes today: a ban on "commemorative" declarations like National Good Teen Days and National Domestic Violence Awareness Month -- measures it says eats about $300,000 a year. House Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich called the commemoratives a "feel-good" function of publicity-seeking Democrats: "What we are saying to people is we believe a smaller government with less of a burden, with less intrusion in your life, will make you feel even better."