Thursday, July 20, 2017
WORLD BRIEFLY
East Oregonian
future generations.
“Both parties in Washington have failed to
abide by a simple principle that all American
families and small businesses do — that we
must live within our means,” said Budget
Chairman Diane Black, R-Tenn. “Balancing
the budget requires us to make tough
choices, but the consequences of inaction far
outweigh any political risks we may face.”
Doctors: Sen. John McCain
has brain tumor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Arizona
Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican
presidential nominee with a well-known
maverick streak that often vexes his GOP
colleagues, has been diagnosed with a
brain tumor, his office said in a statement
Wednesday.
The 80-year-old lawmaker has
glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer, according
to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix,
where McCain had a blood clot removed from
above his left eye last Friday.
“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed
that a primary brain tumor known as a
glioblastoma was associated with the blood
clot,” his office said in a statement.
According to the American Brain Tumor
Association, more than 12,000 people a year
are diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly
aggressive type of tumor. The American
Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate
for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.
It’s the same type of tumor that struck
McCain’s close Democratic colleague in
legislative battles, the late Ted Kennedy of
Massachusetts.
Trump rages at Sessions in
New York Times interview
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Donald Trump told The New York Times in
an interview Wednesday that he never would
have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney
general had he known Sessions would
recuse himself from overseeing the Russia
investigation.
In an extraordinary denouncement of one
of his earliest backers in Washington, Trump
said Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from
all matters related to Russia was “very unfair
to the president.”
“Sessions should have never recused
himself,” Trump told the paper, “and if he
was going to recuse himself he should have
told me before he took the job and I would
have picked somebody else.”
Sessions’ recusal, announced following
revelations that he had failed to disclose
meetings with Russia’s ambassador to the
U.S., effectively paved the way for the
appointment of Robert Mueller as special
counsel. Mueller’s investigation into Russian
meddling in the 2016 election and potential
ties between the Russian government and
Trump campaign aides has cast a growing
cloud on Trump’s administration.
In the interview, Trump also appeared to
threaten Mueller, suggesting he had damaging
information on the former FBI director.
Trump’s embrace of Russia
making top advisers wary
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Donald Trump’s persistent overtures toward
Russia are placing him increasingly at odds
Page 7A
Trump campaign inner circle
called before Senate committees
AP Photo/Noah Berger
California wildfire destroys 29 structures
(AP) — An air tanker drops retar-
dant while battling a wildfire near
Mariposa, Calif., Wednesday. The fire
has forced thousands of people from
homes in and around a half-dozen
small communities, officials said. Cali-
fornia fire officials say 29 structures have
been destroyed by a blaze burning in the
rugged mountains outside of Yosemite
National Park.
It is not clear how many of those
with his national security and foreign policy
advisers, who have long urged a more
cautious approach to dealing with the foreign
adversary.
The uneasy dynamic between the
president and top aides has been exacerbated
by the revelation this week of an extended
dinner conversation between Trump and
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the
recent summit in Germany. The previously
undisclosed conversation, which occurred
a few hours after their official bilateral
meeting, raised red flags with advisers
already concerned by the president’s
tendency to shun protocol and press ahead
with outreach toward Russia, according
to two U.S. officials and three top foreign
officials.
The officials spoke only on condition of
anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Deep divisions are increasingly apparent
within the administration on the best way
to approach Moscow in the midst of U.S.
investigations into Russian meddling in the
American presidential election. Trump has
repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of
U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russian
government sought to tip the election in
his favor and has dismissed investigations
into the possibility of collusion between his
campaign and Moscow as a “witch hunt.”
structures are homes.
The California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection says the fire
on Wednesday also grew to 75 square
miles. Containment remains at 7 percent.
More than 3,000 firefighters are
fighting the 4-day-old wildfire, which is
about 35 miles west of Yosemite.
California fire spokesman Jordan
Motta says the wildfire is moving south,
away from Yosemite.
House panel approves budget
with hopes for tax reform
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key House
panel on Wednesday approved a Republican
fiscal plan that probably won’t deliver on its
promises to balance the budget, but would
begin to clear a path for a GOP effort to
overhaul the tax code this fall.
The Budget Committee approved the
measure by a party-line 22-14 vote. The plan
proposes deep cuts to safety net programs
like Medicaid and food stamps and reprises
a controversial Medicare plan strongly
opposed by President Donald Trump —
though Republicans only want to deliver on a
small fraction of the cuts.
Instead, to most Republicans on Capitol
Hill, the most important element of the plan
is the procedural pathway it would clear to
allow Republicans to pass their top priority
— an overhaul of the tax code — later this
year without fear of a blockade by Senate
Democrats. Passing a budget through
Congress is the only way to get a GOP-only
tax plan enacted this year.
Republicans argue that growing deficits
and debt are part of the reason for slow
economic growth and that big benefit plans
like Medicare and Medicaid need changes
now to keep them from going broke for
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members
of the Trump campaign’s inner circle,
including his eldest son and son-in-law, are
being called before Senate committees next
week to talk about the 2016 election.
The week has the potential to deliver the
most high-profile congressional testimony
involving the Russian meddling probes
since former FBI Director James Comey
appeared in June.
Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to
appear July 26 before the Senate Judiciary
Committee along with former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort, according
to a witness list released by the panel
Wednesday.
Also, a lawyer for Trump’s powerful
son-in-law and adviser said Jared Kushner
will speak to the Senate intelligence
committee Monday.
“As Mr. Kushner has been saying since
March, he has been and is prepared to
voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever
information he has on the investigations to
Congress,” said attorney Abbe Lowell. “He
will continue to cooperate and appreciates
the opportunity to assist in putting this
matter to rest.”
Report: Trump ends covert
plan to arm Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Donald Trump has decided to halt the CIA’s
years-long covert program to arm and train
moderate Syrian rebels battling the regime
of the nation’s president Bashar al-Assad.
Russia had long pushed the United States to
end the program.
The phasing out of the secret program
was reported by The Washington Post on
Wednesday. Officials told the newspaper
that ending the operation reflects Trump’s
interest in finding ways to work with
Russia.
The program was a key component
begun by the Obama administration in
2013 to put pressure on Assad to relinquish
power. But even its supporters have
questioned its usefulness since Moscow sent
forces in Syria two years later.
Russia long saw the anti-Assad program
as an assault on its interests. Ending the
plan, in addition to appeasing Russian
President Vladimir Putin, is also an
acknowledgment of the United States’
limited ability to remove Assad from power.
OPEN HOUSE
July 20th, 4-7 PM
ALL ARE WELCOME
Dr. Pratt practices all aspects of dentistry and is very progres-
sive in his approach to treatment and material selection. Dr.
Pratt consistently strives to provide the very best dental care,
using only the fi nest methods and materials. When not in the
offi ce, He can be found on the ball fi eld umpiring High School
& NCAA Women’s Softball. He has completed 13 marathons,
enjoys golf, backpacking, and is a certifi ed rescue diver.
Robert Alan Pratt, DMD,PC • 916 SW Court Ave. • Pendleton, OR. 97801
www.pendletondentist.com • 541-276-4257