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Host Bob Edwards talks with Representatives Roy Blunt (R-MO) and John Spratt (D-SC). They take a look at President Bush's budget, which was released yesterday.

Rachael Myrow from member station KPCC in Los Angeles reports on Gov. Davis' plans to help California out of its power crisis.

Pet Parenting -- The BBC's Charles Scanlon reports that as couples choose to have fewer children, Japan's pet population has skyrocketed. But dog-parenting comes with its own problems.

How many monthly fees are too many for one consumer to handle? With the advent of more and more communications technology -- like DSL service, cell phones, pagers, cable TV, and now satellite radio -- the number of bills for tech-savvy households is growing. Robert Siegel talks with Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Associates in New York about whether this trend can continue.

Rex Doane of NPR's On the Media has the story of corporate anthems -- elaborate songs and even shows that were geared not to the customer, but to the employees. The songs -- like a school fight song or a national anthem -- were meant to elevate morale.

NPR's David Welna reports the Senate has approved a federal budget with a tax cut that falls about $400 billion short of President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut plan.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on disappointing results released today from the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- a report known as the "nation's report card." Reading scores of fourth graders have improved little over the last eight years and the achievement gap between white and minority students remains substantial.

Robert Siegel talks with Maryland State Sen. Barbara Hoffman, a Democrat from Baltimore, about her proposal to require gun safety courses for all Maryland public school students. The legislation passed the House of Delegates yesterday in a vote 98 to 32. If the Senate passes it, and the governor signs it, Maryland would be the first state in the nation to require firearms instruction.

NPR's John Ydstie reports the unemployment rate notched up another tenth of a percent today to 4.3 percent. And the Labor Department said the economy lost 86,000 jobs in March -- the biggest monthly job loss in nearly a decade.

Despite months of work by the state of California to bail out its largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, the company filed for bankruptcy this morning. PG&E's financial problems are the direct result of the California state law that deregulated the electricity market. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.