NATION/WORLD
Thursday, November 16, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Problems loom for GOP tax bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wiscon-
sin’s Ron Johnson on Wednesday
became the first Republican senator
to say he opposes his party’s tax bill,
signaling potential problems for GOP
leaders. Passage of a similar package
seemed certain Thursday in the House,
where a handful of dissidents conceded
they expected to be steamrolled by
a GOP frantic to claim its first major
legislative victory of the year.
Eager to act before opposition
groups could sow doubts among the
rank-and-file, Republican leaders were
anxious to hand Donald Trump the
first crowning bill of his presidency
by Christmas. Trump planned to visit
House GOP lawmakers Thursday at the
Capitol in what seemed likely to be a
pep rally, not a rescue mission.
The two chambers’ plans would
slash the 35 percent corporate tax rate
to 20 percent, trim personal income tax
rates and diminish some deductions
and credits — while adding nearly
$1.5 trillion to the coming decade’s
federal deficits. Republicans promised
tax breaks for millions of families and
companies left with more money to
produce more jobs.
“It represents a bold path forward
that will allow us as a nation to break
out of the slow-growth status quo once
and for all,” said House Ways and
Means Committee Chairman Kevin
Brady, R-Texas, as his chamber debated
the bill.
Democrats said the measures would
bestow the bulk of their benefits on
higher earners and corporations. In
the Senate Finance Committee, they
focused their attacks on two provisions
designed by Republicans to save
money.
One would repeal President Barack
Obama’s health law requirement that
people buy coverage or pay a fine, a
move the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office projects would result in
13 million more uninsured people by
2027. The other would end the personal
income tax cuts in 2026 while keeping
the corporate reductions permanent.
AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
Bidding representatives react after Leonardo da Vinci’s
“Salvator Mundi” sold for $400 million at Christie’s,
Wednesday in New York.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., left, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance
Committee, criticizes the Republican tax reform plan while Chairman Or-
rin Hatch, R-Utah, center, listens to his opening statement as the panel
begins work Monday to overhaul the tax code.
“We should be working together to
find ways to cut taxes for hardworking
middle-class families, not taking health
care away from millions of people
just to give huge tax cuts to the largest
corporations,” said Sen. Bill Nelson,
D-Fla.
The Finance panel was on track to
approve its proposal by week’s end.
But with GOP leaders hoping for
full Senate passage early next month,
concerns by Johnson and perhaps
others would have to be addressed.
Republicans controlling the Senate
52-48 can approve the legislation with
just 50 votes, plus tie-breaking support
from Vice President Mike Pence. With
solid Democratic opposition likely,
they can lose just two GOP votes.
Besides Johnson, Republican Sens.
Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of
Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee
have yet to commit to backing the tax
measure.
A small group of House Republicans
largely from New York and New Jersey
was rebelling because the House plan
would erase tax deductions for state and
local income and sales taxes and limit
property tax deductions to $10,000.
Their numbers seemed insufficient
to derail the bill. Asked if they could,
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said, “I don’t
think so.”
Repealing
the
“Obamacare”
individual mandate would save $338
billion over the coming decade because
fewer people would be pressured into
getting government-paid coverage like
Medicaid. Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, used
the savings to make his bill’s personal
tax reductions modestly more generous.
Ending the bill’s personal income
tax cuts in 2026, derided by Democrats
as a gimmick, was designed to pare
the bill’s long-term costs. Legislation
cannot boost budget deficits after 10
years if it is to qualify for Senate proce-
dures barring bill-killing filibusters.
Those delays take 60 votes to block,
numbers Republicans lack.
BRIEFLY
Silence from
Trump as Moore-
Alabama storm
grows louder
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President Donald Trump
dodged questions about
the turmoil in the Alabama
Senate race on Wednesday,
declining to join national
Republicans who’ve called
for Roy Moore to abandon
the race amid allegations
of sexual impropriety with
teenage girls. Far from
surrendering, Moore’s camp
challenged the credibility of
one of the accusers.
Trump, who withstood
allegations of sexual
assault weeks before
his own election, was
uncharacteristically silent
when faced with questions
about the scandal, which
has rattled the party and
left Moore’s would-be
colleagues threatening to
expel him should he win.
Republicans had looked to
Trump as one of the few
remaining hopes for pushing
a fellow political rebel from
the race.
Another hope was
Sean Hannity, the Fox
News Channel host and
onetime Moore defender.
On his Tuesday evening
show, Hannity gave
Moore 24 hours to explain
“inconsistencies” in his
response to allegations of
child molestation or else exit
the Alabama race.
Trump: China
agrees NKorea
nuclear weapon
freeze not enough
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President Donald Trump
said Wednesday that the U.S.
and China agree that North
Korea cannot just freeze its
nuclear weapons program
in exchange for concessions
and that it must eliminate its
arsenal.
Trump was restating
a long-standing U.S.
position but suggested that
China now concurred with
Washington that a “freeze-
for-freeze” agreement was
unacceptable.
China and Russia have
proposed that as a way
to restart long-stalled
negotiations: that the North
could freeze its nuclear
and missile programs in
exchange for the U.S. and
its close ally South Korea
stopping regular military
drills that Pyongyang
considers as preparation for
invasion.
China has not made
a public disavowal of
the proposal. China said
Wednesday that it would
send a high-level special
envoy to North Korea amid
an extended chill in relations
between the neighbors.
Trump was speaking a
day after he returned from a
12-day trip through Asia.
‘Obamacare’
sign-ups 45 percent
ahead of last year
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Sign-ups for Affordable Care
Act health plans are running
more than 45 percent ahead
of last year’s pace, according
to government data released
Wednesday.
The numbers from the
Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services come
as Republican senators
are pushing to pay for
tax cuts by repealing the
“Obamacare” requirement to
carry coverage.
The new figures show
that nearly 1.5 million
consumers picked a plan
through Nov. 11, compared
to just over 1 million from
Nov. 1-12 last year, a period
that had included one
additional day for consumers
to enroll.
The latest data cover
39 states served by the
HealthCare.gov website. The
overall number of sign-ups
is higher because states
running their own health
insurance markets are not
counted in the HealthCare.
gov data.
The share of new
customers for 2018 coverage
stayed at about 23 percent,
the report said.
The Obama-era health
law offers subsidized private
insurance for people who
don’t get coverage on the
job. Sign-ups this year
are being closely watched
because of efforts by the
Trump administration and
the Republican-controlled
Congress to do away with
the law.
fired, concert organizers
and the makers and sellers
of a bump stock gun
accessory that enabled him
to fire rapidly are named
as defendants. The court
filings argue that they all
share blame for the worst
mass shooting in recent U.S.
history.
The 14 civil complaints,
filed together in state court
in Las Vegas, follow at
least three others filed since
Paddock opened fire Oct. 1
from the 32nd floor of the
Mandalay Bay hotel and
casino, killing 58 peopl and
injuring hundreds of others.
The lawsuit seeks unspecific
compensation.
Mexico, U.S.,
Canada, begin
NAFTA talks
MEXICO CITY
(AP) — Mexico, the United
States and Canada have
begun the fifth round of
talks on renegotiating the
North American Free Trade
Agreement.
None of the three
countries’ trade
representatives or economy
secretaries will directly
attend the talks, which will
formally open Friday and
run through Tuesday. But the
U.S Trade Representative’s
office said Wednesday that
30 groups of lower-level
negotiators are meeting in
Mexico City this week.
Talks involving upper-
level officials were held this
month at the Asia-Pacific
APEC meetings in Vietnam.
Talks have stalled over
tough American demands,
including higher U.S.
content for automobiles,
changes to the dispute-
resolution process and a
sunset clause that could
force the renewal of the pact
every five years.
Mexico’s low wages
have also sparked demands
it implement better labor
protections.
Las Vegas shooting After 37 years,
Mugabe’s rule
lawsuits stack up
with 14 more filed over Zimbabwe
appears over
CHICAGO (AP) —
Legal action following the
mass shooting at a Las Vegas
concert is picking up with
lawsuits filed Wednesday on
behalf of 14 concertgoers,
including some who were
shot or injured trying to
escape and one woman who
is so traumatized that she has
since mistaken the sound of
rain for gunshots.
The hotel-casino from
where Stephen Paddock
HARARE, Zimbabwe
(AP) — Zimbabwe’s
military was in control of
the capital and the state
broadcaster on Wednesday
and was holding President
Robert Mugabe and his
wife under house arrest in
what appeared to be a coup
against the 93-year-old
Mugabe, the world’s oldest
head of state.
The military was at pains,
however, to emphasize it
had not staged a military
takeover, but was instead
starting a process to restore
Zimbabwe’s democracy.
Still, the military
appeared to have brought
an end to Mugabe’s long,
37-year reign in what the
army’s supporters praised
as a “bloodless correction.”
South Africa and other
neighboring countries
were sending in leaders to
negotiate with Mugabe and
the generals to encourage the
transition.
Citizens in Zimbabwe’s
tidy capital, Harare,
contributed to the feeling
of a smooth transition by
carrying on with their daily
lives, walking past the
army’s armored personnel
carriers to go to work and to
shops.
Many who have never
known any leader but
Mugabe waited in long lines
at banks to draw limited
amounts of cash, a result
of this once-prosperous
country’s plummeting
economy.
Leonardo da Vinci’s
Christ painting sells
for record $450M
NEW YORK (AP) —
A painting of Christ by
the Renaissance master
Leonardo da Vinci sold
for a record $450 million
at auction on Wednesday,
smashing previous records
for artworks sold at auction
or privately.
The painting, “Salvator
Mundi,” Latin for “Savior
of the World,” is one of
fewer than 20 paintings by
Leonardo known to exist
and the only one in private
hands. It was sold by
Christie’s auction house,
which didn’t immediately
identify the buyer.
“‘Salvator Mundi’ is a
painting of the most iconic
figure in the world by the
most important artist of all
time,” said Loic Gouzer,
co-chairman of post-war
and contemporary art at
Christie’s. “The opportu-
nity to bring this master-
piece to the market is an
honor that comes around
once in a lifetime.”
The highest price paid
for a work of art at auction
had been $179 million, for
Pablo Picasso’s painting
“Women
of
Algiers
(Version O)” in May 2015,
also at Christie’s in New
York. The highest known
sale price for any artwork
had been $300 million,
for Willem de Kooning’s
painting
“Interchange,”
sold privately in September
2015 by the David Geffen
Foundation to hedge fund
manager Kenneth C.
Griffin.
A backer of the
“Salvator Mundi” auction
had guaranteed a bid of
at least $100 million. The
bidding opened at $75
million and ran for 19
minutes. The price hit $300
million about halfway
through the bidding.
People in the auction
house gallery applauded
and cheered when the
bidding reached $300
million and when the
hammer came down on
the final bid, $400 million.
The record sale price of
$450 million includes the
buyer’s premium, a fee
paid by the winner to the
auction house.
The 26-inch-tall Leon-
ardo painting dates from
around 1500 and shows
Christ dressed in Renais-
sance-style robes, his right
hand raised in blessing as
his left hand holds a crystal
sphere.
Its path from Leonardo’s
workshop to the auction
block at Christie’s was not
smooth. Once owned by
King Charles I of England,
it disappeared from view
until 1900, when it resur-
faced and was acquired by
a British collector. At that
time it was attributed to a
Leonardo disciple, rather
than to the master himself.
The painting was sold
again in 1958 and then
was acquired in 2005,
badly damaged and partly
painted over, by a consor-
tium of art dealers who
paid less than $10,000.
The art dealers restored the
painting and documented
its authenticity as a work
by Leonardo.
The painting was sold
Wednesday by Russian
billionaire
Dmitry
Rybolovlev, who bought
it in 2013 for $127.5
million in a private sale
that became the subject of
a continuing lawsuit.
Christie’s said most
scholars agree the painting
is by Leonardo, though
some critics have ques-
tioned the attribution and
some say the extensive
restoration muddies the
work’s authorship.
Christie’s capitalized
on the public’s interest
in Leonardo, considered
one of the greatest artists
of all time, with a media
campaign that labeled
the painting “The Last
Da Vinci.” The work was
exhibited in Hong Kong,
San Francisco, London and
New York before the sale.
In New York, where no
museum owns a Leonardo,
art lovers lined up outside
Christie’s
Rockefeller
Center headquarters on
Tuesday to view “Salvator
Mundi.”
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