6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2017
WORLD IN BRIEF
Trump to issue stop-payment
order on health care subsidies
WASHINGTON — In a brash move likely to roil insurance
markets, President Donald Trump will “immediately” halt pay-
ments to insurers under the Obama-era health care law he has
been trying to unravel for months.
The Department of Health and Human Services made the
announcement in a statement late Thursday. “We will discon-
tinue these payments immediately,” said acting HHS Secretary
Eric Hargan and Medicare administrator Seema Verma. Sign-up
season for subsidized private insurance starts Nov. 1, in less than
three weeks, with about 9 million people currently covered.
In a separate statement, the White House said the government
cannot legally continue to pay the so-called cost-sharing subsi-
dies because they lack a formal authorization by Congress.
However, the administration had been making the payments
from month to month, even as Trump threatened to cut them
off to force Democrats to negotiate over health care. The sub-
sidies help lower copays and deductibles for people with mod-
est incomes.
Halting the payments would trigger a spike in premiums for
next year, unless Trump reverses course or Congress authorizes
the money. The next payments are due around Oct. 20.
Democrat says party
won’t cave on ‘Obamacare’
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer says “threats and bul-
lying” from President Donald Trump will not force Democrats to
repeal the Obama health care law.
The New York Democrat tells reporters people will blame
Republicans for the pain of Trump’s decision to halt federal pay-
ments to insurers.
Schumer says blocking those subsidies will cause higher pre-
miums and prompt some insurers to stop selling policies. He says
people “know full well which party is doing it.”
Schumer says Trump has “a decreased level of trust” with vot-
ers and congressional Democrats. He says Trump lacks leverage
to force Democrats to make concessions.
The Democratic leader says there’ll be a good chance to
restore the money in a bipartisan end-of-year spending bill
In other developments, a coalition of state attorneys general is
planning to fi le suit today to try to block Trump’s move.
The offi ce of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says
the federal suit will argue that the Trump administration violated
a law that requires government agencies to obey existing statutes
and follow orderly and transparent procedures.
The state offi cials will also argue that the Trump administra-
tion violated the U.S. Constitution’s “Take Care Clause,” which
requires the executive branch to faithfully execute laws.
Californians under siege try to
fi ght fi res, fi nd loved ones
SONOMA, Calif. — They are trying to fi nd lost loved ones,
to sift through the remains of lost homes, to count, identify and
mourn the dozens of dead — all while the fi res rage on.
The communities of Northern California were preparing for
another day under siege today, despite being driven to exhaustion
by evacuations, destruction and danger amid the deadliest week
of wildfi res the state has ever seen.
“It wears you out,” said winemaker Kristin Belair, who was
driving back from Lake Tahoe to her as-yet-unburnt home in
Napa. “Anybody who’s been in a natural disaster can tell you
that it goes on and on. I think you just kind of do hour by hour
almost.”
The death toll had climbed to an unprecedented 31, and was
expected to keep rising. Individual fi res including the Oakland
Hills blaze of 1991 had killed more people than any one of the
current fi res, but no collection of simultaneous fi res in California
had ever led to so many deaths, authorities said.
“We had series of statewide fi res in 2003, 2007, 2008 that
didn’t have anything close to this death count,” said Daniel Ber-
lant, a deputy director with the California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection.
Tillerson: Trump will scorn but
not bolt from Iran nuke deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will say today
the Iran nuclear deal is no longer in America’s national security
interests, but he won’t withdraw from the landmark 2015 accord
or immediately re-impose sanctions, U.S. offi cials said.
The announcement is essentially a compromise that allows
Trump to condemn an accord that he has repeatedly denounced
as the worst deal in American history. But he stops well short of
torpedoing the pact, which was negotiated over 18 months by the
Obama administration, European allies and others.
Instead, Trump will kick the issue over to Congress, asking
lawmakers to come up with new legislation that would automati-
cally re-impose sanctions should Iran cross any one of numerous
nuclear and non-nuclear “trigger points,” Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said in
remarks released ahead of Trump’s announcement.
Those “trigger points” would include violations of the deal
involving illicit atomic work or ballistic missile testing, support
for Syrian President Bashar Assad, Lebanon’s Hezbollah move-
ment and other groups that destabilize the region, human rights
abuses and cyber warfare, they said.
Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to snap the
sanctions back into place, modify the law or do nothing. Any
decision to re-impose sanctions would automatically kill Ameri-
ca’s participation in the deal.
Social Security benefi ts
to rise by 2 percent in 2018
WASHINGTON — Millions of Social Security recipients and
other retirees will get a 2 percent increase in benefi ts next year.
It’s the largest increase since 2012 but comes to only $25 a month
for the average benefi ciary.
The Social Security Administration announced the cost-of-
living increase today.
The COLA affects benefi ts for more than 70 million U.S. resi-
dents, including Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and
federal retirees. That’s about one in fi ve Americans.
By law, the COLA is based on a broad measure of consumer
prices generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advocates for
seniors claim the infl ation index doesn’t accurately capture rising
prices faced by seniors, especially for health care.
“It’s squeezing them. It’s causing them to dip into savings
more quickly,” said Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League.
“The lifetime income that they were counting on just isn’t there.”
Some conservatives argue that the infl ation index is too gener-
ous because when prices go up, people change their buying hab-
its and buy cheaper alternatives.
The average monthly Social Security payment is $1,258, or
about $15,000 a year.
Suspect in slayings of boy, 3
adults arrested after manhunt
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The man suspected of fatally shoot-
ing a 7-year-old boy and three adults was arrested Friday as he
walked along a southern Ohio road after a dayslong manhunt, a
sheriff said.
Authorities located 23-year-old Arron Lawson after receiving
a tip from someone who spotted him, Lawrence County Sheriff
Jeffery Lawless said. He seemed worn out, the sheriff said.
Lawson is being held on charges of murder and aggravated
murder. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he has an attorney.
He was arrested roughly 12 miles south of where authorities
found three adults dead in a house trailer on Wednesday evening and
later found the body of 7-year-old Devin Holston apparently hidden.
A fourth adult who was stabbed at the home fl ed and was
fl own to a hospital.
Turkish troops move into al-
Qaida-dominated Syrian province
BEIRUT — Turkish armored vehicles have rolled into north-
western Syria to impose a “de-escalation zone” in a province
dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants.
The Turkish military said it began an operation late Thursday
to set up “observation points” in Idlib, without providing further
details or saying how many troops were involved.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper said around 30 armored vehi-
cles and more than 100 commandos and special forces are tak-
ing part in the operation, with more troop movements expected
in the coming days.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
the deployment of nearly 16 armored vehicles, fi ve tanks and a
military force came days after Turkey sent reconnaissance mis-
sions to the area.
In Weinstein saga, McGowan
emerges as powerful voice
NEW YORK — In a fl urry of unrestrained tweets and with the
“RoseArmy” at her back, Rose McGowan has emerged a kind of
whistleblowing avenger in the Harvey Weinstein saga, leaving a
scorched path behind her across social media.
After long referencing a past incident with Weinstein,
McGowan on Thursday for the fi rst time said it outright: “HW
raped me,” the actress wrote, apparently referring to the embat-
tled former Weinstein Co. co-chairman. Weinstein representative
Sallie Hofmeister said “any allegations of non-consensual con-
tact are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
The Hollywood Reporter said McGowan confi rmed it was
Weinstein she was referring to; her representative did not respond
to a message seeking comment.
McGowan’s accusation was the latest development in the
fast-unraveling saga surrounding Weinstein.
Police detectives in New York and London said Thursday that
they are taking a fresh look into sexual assault allegations against
Harvey Weinstein now that some 30 women have accused the
Hollywood fi lm producer of inappropriate conduct. Hachette
Book Group, one of the country’s top publishers, announced it
has pulled the plug on its Weinstein Books imprint.
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