NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Senate advances $36.5B in disaster relief Trump shoots down
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Senate on Monday gave a
preliminary OK to a $36.5
billion hurricane relief
package that would provide
Puerto Rico with a much-
needed infusion of cash and
keep the federal flood insur-
ance program from running
out of money to pay claims.
The 79-16 procedural
vote set the stage for a final
vote, most likely Tuesday.
The
measure
also
provides $18.7 billion to
replenish the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agen-
cy’s rapidly dwindling emer-
gency disaster accounts. On
Monday, FEMA announced
more than $500 million in
aid to Puerto Rico, including
$285 million to help restore
power and water services
to the devastated island. An
additional $16 billion would
permit the financially trou-
bled federal flood insurance
program to pay an influx of
Harvey-related claims.
But the bill rejects
requests from the powerful
Texas and Florida congres-
sional delegations for
additional money to rebuild
after hurricanes Harvey and
Irma. Florida Democrat Bill
Nelson, whose state’s citrus
industry endured signifi-
cant losses during Irma,
sought to add $3 billion
in immediate agriculture
assistance to the measure,
but was denied by Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., who said money
for crop losses would be in
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File
In this Sept. 28 file photo, debris scatters a destroyed
community in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa
Alta, Puerto Rico.
subsequent aid measures.
Senate
passage
on
Tuesday would send the
measure to President Donald
Trump for his signature.
There was urgency to
move the measure swiftly —
rather than add more money
to it at this time — because
the government’s disaster
response and flood insur-
ance reserves are running
out. Democrat Sen. Patrick
Leahy of Vermont said that
would happen “in a matter of
days” without action.
Still,
members
of
the Texas and Florida
delegations in Congress
are unhappy because the
measure failed to address
extensive requests for addi-
tional hurricane rebuilding
money. Texas, inundated by
Harvey in August, requested
$19 billion, while Florida
sought $27 billion.
“I’m pretty disappointed
with what the House sent
over,” Texas GOP Sen.
John Cornyn said last week.
But later, after speaking
to both Trump and White
House budget director Mick
Mulvaney, Cornyn said he
was promised that the White
House would issue another
disaster aid measure next
month for Texas, Florida,
and Puerto Rico. A fourth,
and perhaps final, measure
is likely to anchor a year-end
spending bill.
“The victims of these
hurricanes can continue to
count on our support,” said
McConnell said.
Up to $5 billion of the
measure’s total could be
used to assist Puerto Rico’s
central government and
various municipalities that
are suffering unsustainable
cash shortfalls as Maria
has choked off revenues
and strained resources. An
additional $150 million
would help Puerto Rico
with the 10 percent match
required for FEMA disaster
relief.
More than one-fourth of
the island’s residents don’t
have potable running water
and only 17 percent have
electricity, according to
FEMA. Just 392 miles of
Puerto Rico’s 5,073 miles of
roads are open. Conditions
in the U.S. Virgin Islands are
bad as well, with widespread
power outages.
But Trump last week
graded his response to the
Puerto Rico disaster a 10 on
a scale of 10.
“President Trump seems
more concerned about
claiming credit for a job well
done than the actual situation
on the ground deserves,
particularly in Puerto Rico,”
Leahy said. “This is the hard
part of governing,” he added.
“We dig in for the long haul,
we stop patting ourselves on
the back.”
The measure currently
before the Senate contains
$577 million for wildfires in
the West that forced agencies
to tap other reserves for fire-
fighting accounts and FEMA
money.
retirement limit to pay
for GOP tax cuts
WA S H I N G T O N
(AP) — President Donald
Trump shot down a possible
approach for raising revenue
to finance tax cuts in politi-
cally must-do legislation for
the Republicans, promising
Monday the popular 401(k)
retirement savings program
will be untouched.
Still, the head of the
House’s
tax-writing
committee indicated that
changes to the 401(k)
structure may still be on the
table as Republicans push
an ambitious timetable to
get tax legislation written.
Asked about the issue, Ways
and Means Committee Chair
Rep. Kevin Brady said: “I
don’t want to get ahead of
the committee. That will
all be part of the tax reform
bill.”
And in response to
whether Trump’s tweet
changes in any way what the
panel was planning to do,
Brady replied only, “no.”
Republicans are scram-
bling to find new revenue
sources to pay for antici-
pated tax cuts exceeding $1
trillion. A proposal to elimi-
nate the widely-used federal
deduction for state and local
taxes has run into heavy
opposition from GOP House
members from high-tax
states, threatening the enact-
ment of tax legislation that
Republicans deem essential
to retaining their majority in
next year’s elections.
Trump pledged in a tweet
there will be “no change” to
tax incentives for the 401(k)
retirement programs.
The No. 2 Republican in
the Senate, Majority Whip
John Cornyn of Texas,
said he’s “sympathetic”
to Trump’s opposition to
curbing 401(k)s because “we
don’t want to discourage
people from saving.”
But he cautioned against
ruling out ideas at this stage
of the legislative process.
“I do think we need to be
careful because there are
going to be a lot of different
trial balloons, and what
counts is how you put all this
together,” Cornyn said.
The plan crafted by
Trump and Republican
leaders calls for steep tax
cuts for corporations and
potentially individuals, a
doubling of the standard
deduction used by most
Americans, shrinking the
number of tax brackets from
seven to three or four, and
the repeal of inheritance
taxes on multimillion-dollar
estates. The child tax credit
would be increased and
the tax system would be
simplified; most Americans
would be able to file their
income taxes on a postcard,
according to the plan.
Crucial details of the plan
have yet to be worked out,
notably what income levels
would fit with each tax
bracket.
BRIEFLY
Trump awards Medal of Honor
to Vietnam-era Army medic
Angry soldier’s widow says Trump
didn’t know husband’s name
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump
on Monday turned a Medal of Honor ceremony for a
Vietnam-era Army medic who risked his life to help
wounded comrades into a mini homework tutorial for
the boy and girl who came to watch their grandfather be
enshrined “into
the history of
our nation.”
Every
Wednesday,
retired Army
Capt. Gary
M. Rose’s
grandchildren
— Kaitlyn
and Christian
— head to his
Huntsville,
Alabama,
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
home for
President Donald Trump bestows the
Medal of Honor to retired Army Capt.
“homework
Gary M. Rose during a ceremony
night” with
Monday.
him and
Margaret,
their grandmother, Trump said. “I think that Kaitlyn and
Christian will agree this fieldtrip is their best homework
assignment yet. Right?”
Trump said he had been told that Christian recently asked
Rose about the Medal of Honor. Then he proceeded to
explain.
“It’s the award given to America’s bravest heroes who earn
our freedom with their sacrifice,” said Trump, whose lack
of military service has drawn renewed attention during the
debate over the fate of four service members who were killed
this month in an ambush in Niger.
“Those who receive the Medal of Honor went above
and beyond the call of duty to protect their fellow service
members and defend our nation,” he said.
He said Rose is a “patriot who never gives up, never gives
in, and always stands strong for God, for family, and for
country.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A fallen soldier’s angry widow
joined the stormy dispute with President Donald Trump on
Monday over his response to her husband’s death, declaring
that his failure to remember the soldier’s name in last week’s
condolence call “made me cry.”
He retorted that the call was “very
respectful” and her accusation about her
husband’s name simply wasn’t true.
Though Trump refused to let
the new round of complaints go
unanswered, he steered clear of the
insults he exchanged last week with
a congresswoman who had overhead
the sympathy call.
The president spoke in public
at two events during the day —
Myeshia Johnson
including his awarding of the military
Medal of Honor to a Vietnam-era
Army medic — and made no mention of the case of Sgt. La
David Johnson, one of four soldiers killed Oct. 4 in a firefight
with militants tied to the Islamic State group in Niger.
In addition to criticizing Trump, Myeshia Johnson, the
sergeant’s widow, also complained bitterly that she had not
been able to see her husband’s body.
“I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband,”
she said. “I don’t know nothing, they won’t show me a finger,
a hand.”
U.S. general lays out Niger attack
details; questions remain
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. special forces unit
ambushed by Islamic militants in Niger didn’t call for help
until an hour into their first contact with the enemy, the top
U.S. general said Monday, as he tried to clear up some of the
murky details of the assault that killed four American troops
and has triggered a nasty political brawl.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the American people and
the fallen soldiers’ families deserve answers about the deadly
ambush in the west African nation. But he said he still lacks
many of the details about how the attack unfolded, and he
asked for patience as the military investigation continues.
Dunford’s description of the incident, however,
underscored how long the mid-morning attack dragged on,
and that it was many hours before the wounded and killed
were evacuated. He said that “within minutes” after the unit
called for assistance, a U.S. drone was moved into position
overhead, providing surveillance and full-motion video. He
declined to say if it was armed, but said it did not fire.
Another hour went by before French fighter jets arrived,
but the wounded weren’t taken out until later in the afternoon
when French helicopters arrived along with additional Niger
troops. The bodies of the three Green Berets who were killed
were evacuated that evening, he said.
“I make no judgment as to how long it took them to ask
for support,” Dunford said. “I don’t know that they thought
they needed support prior to that time. I don’t know how this
attack unfolded. I don’t know what their initial assessment
was of what they were confronted with.”
ISIS came with a hit list,
left Syria town in a trail of blood
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State militants came into
the Syrian town with a hit list. By the time they left three
weeks later, more than 70 civilians had been killed — shot or
beheaded, their bodies dumped in farms and ditches.
The apparent revenge killings in the town of Qaryatayn
underscore the ability of the extremists to inflict heavy losses
even when they’re in retreat — and portend more violence as
they fight to hang on to their last strongholds in Syria.
News of the gruesome slayings began to emerge late
Sunday, after IS militants were driven out by advancing
government troops.
Terrified residents said they watched the slaughter from
their windows or in the streets.
One former resident said his surviving family members
walked for miles to find cell phone coverage so they could
tell him of the deaths of his uncle, two cousins and a fourth
relative. Another uncle remains missing.
“They came into town with a hit list,” said Abdullah
AbdulKarim, adding that 35 of the 50 militants who overran
the town late last month were originally from Qaryatayn.
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Cheryl
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J OSEPH B. D AVIS
Staff Sergeant
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US Marines
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Love Evelyn,
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