NATION
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Senate considers tax hike failsafe if revenue falls short
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
and MARCY GORDON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Senate Republicans are
considering a trigger that
would automatically increase
taxes if their sweeping
legislation fails to generate as
much revenue as they expect.
It’s an effort to mollify deficit
hawks who worry that tax cuts
for businesses and individuals
will add to the nation’s already
mounting debt.
The effort comes as a
second Republican senator,
Steve Daines of Montana,
announced Monday that he
opposes the tax bill in its
current form. Previously, Sen.
Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said
he opposed the bill, leaving
Senate Republicans no room
for error as they hope to vote
on the bill this week.
Both senators complained
that the tax bill favors large
corporations over small busi-
nesses. Republicans have
only two votes to spare in
the Senate, where they hold
a 52-48 edge and anticipate
Vice President Mike Pence
breaking a tie.
At the White House,
President Donald Trump
maintained that the bill
would help all Americans.
“I think it’s going to
benefit everybody,” the
president said. “It’s going
to mostly benefit people
looking for jobs more than
anything else, because we’re
giving great incentives.”
Senate Republicans indi-
cated that they still had a way
to go to secure the votes.
“We’re making progress,
minute by minute, hour by
hour, day by day. But we’re
not there yet,” said Texas
Sen. John Cornyn, the No.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., front, with, from left, Sens. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa.,
John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, speaks to reporters following a meeting with
President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Monday.
2 Republican in the Senate.
Pressed on timing, he said
the expectation is a vote this
week.
A new congressional esti-
mate says the Senate tax bill
would add $1.4 trillion to the
budget deficit over the next
decade. But GOP leaders
dispute the estimate, saying
tax cuts will spur economic
growth, reducing the hit on
the deficit.
Many economists disagree
with such optimistic projec-
tions. The trigger would be a
way for senators to test their
economic assumptions, with
real consequences if they are
wrong.
“Do we have realistic
numbers and is there a back-
stop in the process just in
case we don’t?” asked Sen.
James Lankford, R-Okla.
“We should build in
the ‘What if?’ What if this
doesn’t work?” Lankford
said. “What changes might
be needed in the tax code in
the days ahead to be able to
adjust in what scenario?”
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.,
said the Trump administra-
tion and Senate Republican
leaders are open to some kind
of a trigger to increase reve-
nues if the tax plan falls short.
Neither
Corker
nor
Lankford spelled out exactly
how the trigger would work,
noting that senators are still
working on the proposal. Sen.
Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said
the trigger is possible. But,
he added, the proposal could
run afoul of the Senate’s
byzantine budget rules.
Trump and Senate Repub-
licans scrambled Monday
to make changes to the bill
in an effort to win over
holdout GOP senators and
pass a tax package by the
end of the year. Corker said
he spoke to White House
Chief of Staff John Kelly and
economic adviser Gary Cohn
throughout the weekend, and
Treasury Secretary Steve
Mnuchin was at his Senate
office on Monday.
“Very possible,” Corker
said when asked if he might
vote “no” in the Senate
Budget
Committee
on
Tuesday if the revenue issue
isn’t settled. “It’s important
for me to know we’ve got
this resolved,” he said.
Johnson told Wisconsin
reporters on Monday, “If
we develop a fix prior to
committee, I’ll probably
support it, but if we don’t I’ll
vote against it.”
Trump
and
Senate
leaders are trying to balance
competing demands. While
some senators fear the pack-
age’s debt consequences,
others want more generous
tax breaks for businesses. In
a boost for the legislation,
Republican Sen. Rand Paul
of Kentucky said he would
back the measure.
Trump hosted Republican
members of the Senate
Finance Committee at the
White House on Monday.
GOP leaders were still trying
to round up the votes in the
Senate to pass the bill.
Whatever the Senate
passes must be reconciled
with the House version of the
tax bill.
Trump suggested he is
open to making unspecified
changes to the way millions
of “pass-through” businesses
are taxed, a sticking point for
some lawmakers. These are
businesses in which profits
are passed onto the owners,
who report the income on
their individual tax returns.
The vast majority of U.S.
businesses, big and small, are
taxed this way.
Two fight for control of consumer
watchdog; judge yet to rule
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump, right, meets Monday with Navajo Code Talkers Peter MacDon-
ald, center, and Thomas Begay, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Trump, honoring Navajos,
revives racial jab at Warren
By LAURIE KELLMAN
and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump returned
to his own kind of code
talking Monday by deriding
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth
Warren as “Pocahontas” at a
White House event honoring
Native American war heroes.
“You were here long
before any of us were here,”
Trump said as he honored
three Navajo code talkers
from World War II. And
then he added, without
naming Warren: “We have
a representative in Congress
who they say was here a
long time ago. They call her
Pocahontas. But you know
what, I like you.”
In fact, Trump deployed
that nickname for the Massa-
chusetts senator repeatedly
during the 2016 presidential
campaign and, as president,
as recently as a Nov. 3 tweet.
Native American leaders
have called Trump’s past
attacks on Warren offen-
sive and distasteful. Some
Democrats have called the
nickname racist.
Trump made the comment
as he stood near a portrait of
President Andrew Jackson,
which he hung in the Oval
Office in January. Trump
admires the seventh presi-
dent’s populism. But Jackson
also is known for signing
the Indian Removal Act of
1830, in which the Cherokee
Nation was removed from its
lands in what is now known
as the “trail of tears.”
“We have a representative here in
Congress who they say was here a long
time ago. They call her Pocahontas.
But you know what, I like you.”
— Donald Trump, President of the United States
The
Navajo
Nation
suggested Trump’s remark
Monday was an example of
“cultural insensitivity” and
resolved to stay out of the
“ongoing feud between the
senator and President Trump.”
“All tribal nations still
battle insensitive references
to our people. The preju-
dice that Native American
people face is an unfortunate
historical legacy,” Navajo
Nation President Russell
Begaye said in a statement.
He added that the Navajo
Nation remains honored by
the White House recognition
of the code talkers.
White House spokes-
woman Sarah Huckabee
Sanders, asked about criticism
of Trump’s remarks, said a
racial slur “was certainly not
the president’s intent.”
But the remark is the
latest in a long list of remarks
Trump has made about people
from specific ethnic and
racial groups. Announcing
his longshot campaign for
president in 2015, Trump said
many Mexican immigrants
are rapists. He’s sought
to ban immigrants from
certain Muslim majority
nations. He’s come under
fire for what some said was a
too-slow federal response to
hurricane damage in Puerto
Rico. Trump also raised
eyebrows for apparently
having some fun in October
with the name of the U.S.
territory — “Puerrrto Rico,”
he said — at an East Room
event for Puerto Ricans.
Those in the Oval Office
for Monday’s event gave no
visible reaction to Trump’s
“Pocahontas” comments. But
Warren and other Democrats
were quick to respond.
“This was supposed to
be an event to honor heroes,
people who put it all on the
line for our country, who,
because of their incredible
work, saved the lives of
countless Americans and
our allies,” Warren said in an
interview on MSNBC. “It is
deeply unfortunate that the
president of the United States
cannot even make it through
a ceremony honoring these
heroes without having to
throw out a racial slur.”
New Mexico Sen. Sen.
Tom Udall, vice chairman of
the Indian Affairs committee,
added: “Donald Trump’s
latest racist joke — during
Native American Heritage
Month no less — demeaned
the contributions that the
code talkers and countless
other Native American
patriots and citizens have
made to our great country.”
=Associated PRESS
up or lock the doors are completely false,”
WASHINGTON — With emails, tweets he said. “I am a member of the executive
and doughnuts, the two dueling acting direc- branch of government. We intend to execute
tors battled for control of the nation’s top the laws of the United States.”
financial watchdog agency, the Consumer
Mulvaney said the day went smoothly,
Financial Protection Bureau, on Monday.
though he noted the power struggle may be
Leandra English, who was elevated to awkward for people who know English.
interim director of the bureau
Responding to news reports about
late last week by its outgoing
the conflicting leadership, he said,
director, sent staff an email
“There was one person today who
offering Thanksgiving wishes.
showed up at work claiming to be
President Donald Trump’s choice
director. She wasn’t here.”
for the role — White House
Meanwhile, in a show of
budget director Mick Mulvaney
support, top Senate Democrats
— then emailed staff to tell them
including Senate Minority
to “disregard” any instructions
Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen.
from English.
Elizabeth Warren of Massachu-
Laying down markers in what Mick Mulvaney
setts, met with English.
has quickly become a war of
Earlier in the day, it was a
optics, both signed their missives
battle of optics as Mulvaney and
“Acting Director.”
English jostled for control via
English has filed a lawsuit
emails, tweets and doughnuts.
seeking a temporary restraining
Mulvaney arrived Monday
order to block Mulvaney from
morning at the agency with
taking over the bureau. Judge
doughnuts, and his staff tweeted out
Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee
photos of him meeting with agency
approved recently by the Senate,
division heads. Meanwhile, English
heard arguments on the case late
sent a department-wide email
Monday afternoon but didn’t
saying she hoped everyone had a
Leandra English
immediately rule.
great Thanksgiving.
The government planned to file
Meanwhile,
Mulvaney
its response in the case Monday
quickly responded to English’s email,
night, and the judge said he’ll read the filing instructing CFPB staff to “disregard” any
and “go from there.”
directives from her.
Mulvaney, speaking to reporters at
English was promoted from chief of staff
the bureau, announced he was imposing to deputy director by Richard Cordray as
a 30-day freeze on hiring and new he prepared to resign last Friday. Cordray
rulemaking. Despite previous comments was appointed to the position by President
calling the agency a “joke” and an example Barack Obama and has been long criticized
of bureaucracy run amok, he said the bureau by congressional Republicans for being
would remain functioning.
overzealous but lauded by consumer advo-
“This agency will stay open. Rumors that cates for aggressively going after banks for
I’m going to set the place on fire, or blow it wrongdoing, like in the case of Wells Fargo.
I NTRODUCING
P HONAK D IRECT
C ONNECTIVITY H EARING A IDS
• Direct connectivity to any cell phone *
• Hearing aids used as a wireless head-
set for hands-free calls
• Excellent TV sound quality1 with
hearing aids turned into wireless TV
headphones
Phonak direct connectivity hearing aids offer universal connectivity to any cell phone* regardless of
the brand or operating system. With direct connectivity hearing aids, Phonak offers a solution
that provides true hands-free functionality just like a Bluetooth® wireless headset. The hearing
aids utilize it’s built-in microphones to pick up the clients voice for phone calls. A call can be
heard ringing directly in the hearing aids and with a simple push of a button, can be answered or
rejected. This can be done at distance from the telephone e.g. while a client is positioned on the
other side of a room.
Direct connectivity also extends to media playing with automatic connectivity to any TV or stereo
system through a new and compact, multimedia hub called TV Connector. It delivers excellent
stereo sound quality up to 15m away and does not require any additional streaming device.
With Phonak direct connectivity hearing aids, clients can enjoy the freedom of universal connectivity
RENATA ANDERSON M.A.
2237 Southwest • Court Place
Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-5053