WASHINGTON - The White House recently reported that President Bush supports legislation that would elevate the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to Cabinet status. In the past, the President has been criticized by environmental groups for a string of decisions, including rejecting a proposed treaty to combat global warming.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said legislation proposed by New York Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert would make EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman a Cabinet secretary. Fleischer said Bush would sign the legislation if it was passed by Congress. Republicans on Capitol Hill have generally been resistant in the past to elevating the status of the EPA to Cabinet level.