NATION/WORLD
Thursday, December 14, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
GOP says it’s got a deal on taxes; cuts coming for next year
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— Confident congressional
Republicans forged an agree-
ment Wednesday on a major
overhaul of the nation’s tax
laws that would provide
generous tax cuts for corpo-
rations and the wealthiest
Americans — Donald Trump
among them — and deliver
the first major legislative
accomplishment to the GOP
president.
Middle- and low-income
families would get smaller
tax cuts, though Trump and
GOP leaders have billed the
package as a huge benefit
for the middle class. The
measure would scrap a major
tax requirement of Barack
Obama’s Affordable Care
Act, a step toward the ulti-
mate GOP goal of unraveling
the law.
“The cynical voices
that opposed tax cuts grow
smaller and weaker, and
the American people grow
stronger,” Trump said at the
White House. “This is for
people of middle income,
this is for companies that are
going to create jobs. This is
for very, very special people,
the great people of America.”
The business tax cuts
would be permanent, but
reductions for individuals
would expire after a decade
— saving money to comply
with Senate budget rules. In
all, the bill would cut taxes
by about $1.5 trillion over the
next 10 years, adding billions
to the nation’s mounting
debt.
The legislation, which is
still being finalized, would
cut the top tax rate for the
wealthy from 39.6 percent to
37 percent, slash the corpo-
“The cynical
voices that
opposed tax cuts
grow smaller and
weaker, and the
American people
grow stronger.”
ate-school tuition waivers,
said the aides, who spoke
on condition of anonymity
because they were not autho-
rized to publicly discuss
private negotiations.
The tax bill would scale
back the deduction for state
and local taxes, allowing
families to deduct only up to
a total of $10,000 in property
and income taxes.
The deduction is espe-
cially important to residents
of high-tax states like
Oregon, New York, New
Jersey and California.
Business owners who
report business income on
their personal tax returns
would be able to deduct 20
percent of that income.
The bill would repeal the
mandate that most Ameri-
cans get health insurance,
a provision of the 2010
health care law. Republicans
suffered a humiliating defeat
this past summer when they
were unable to dismantle the
health care law after seven
years of promises. Scrapping
the individual mandate would
provide them with more than
$300 billion for deeper tax
cuts while undermining the
law.
Senate leaders plan to vote
on the package Tuesday. If it
passes, the House would vote
next. GOP leaders hope to
send the bill to Trump before
Christmas.
“Let’s not waver now
— let’s not give in to the
Washington status quo — not
when tax reform is so close,”
said Rep. Kevin Brady,
R-Texas, chairman of the
tax-writing House Ways and
Means Committee.
The measure has come
under assault by Democrats
who say it is unfairly tilted
in favor of business and the
wealthy.
Top Senate Democrat
Chuck Schumer said the
public doesn’t know all the
details of the bill, “but they
smell what’s going on and
that is tax cuts for the wealth-
iest and no help for so many
in the middle class.”
Schumer predicted that
the politically unpopular bill
would drag down Republi-
cans in next year’s congres-
sional elections. “I believe
they’ll pay a very steep price
for this bill in 2018,” he said.
The agreement was
reached hours before a joint
House-Senate
conference
committee met in public for
the first time. The committee
is charged with blending
the tax bills passed by the
House and Senate, though
Republicans have done their
negotiations behind closed
doors. Democrats have not
been included in any talks on
the bill.
The full details will be
unveiled by the end of the
week, Brady said.
this fall admitted Wednesday
that the isotope recorded
does emerge as part of the
plant’s production cycle but
said its levels are negligible.
Russian officials last
month reported high levels
of Ruthenium-106 in areas
close to the Mayak nuclear
plant in the Ural Mountains.
The environmental group
Greenpeace alleged that
Mayak could have been the
source of a Ruthenium-106
leak, but the plant said it has
not extracted the isotope
or conducted any other
operations that may lead to
its release “for many years.”
But Yuri Mokrov, adviser
to Mayak’s director general,
said in a webcast press
conference Wednesday that
Ruthenium-106 routinely
emerges during the
processing of spent nuclear
fuel. Mokrov insisted,
however, the plant was not
the source of any major leak,
saying it does not produce
the isotope on purpose
and that the emissions that
the plant makes are so
insignificant “we can only
see it in the chimney.”
A Russian panel of
experts dispatched to
investigate the leak has
failed to identify where
the isotope came from,
but alleged that it could
have come from a satellite
that came down from its
orbit and disintegrated
in the atmosphere. The
commission said last week
that a thorough inspection
of the Mayak plant and its
personnel had found no
safety breaches.
“There is Ruthenium
in spent nuclear fuel, and
Mayak during its activities
routinely comes across
this isotope,” Mokrov
said, adding that “actual
emissions are hundreds
times lower the permitted
levels.”
Mayak, in Russia’s
Chelyabinsk region,
saw one of the world’s
worst nuclear accidents
on Sept. 29, 1957, when
a waste tank exploded.
That contaminated 9,200
square miles of territory
and prompted authorities to
evacuate 10,000 residents
from neighboring regions.
— Donald Trump,
President of the United States
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, center, embrac-
es Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, left, as House and
Senate conferees after GOP leaders announced they have forged an agreement on
a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s tax laws, in Washington on Wednesday.
rate income tax rate from
35 percent to 21 percent and
allow homeowners to deduct
interest only on the first
$750,000 of a new mortgage.
The top tax rate currently
applies to income above
$470,000
for
married
couples, though lawmakers
are reworking the tax
brackets.
The standard deduction
would be nearly doubled, to
$24,000 for married couples.
Details of the agreement
were described by Repub-
lican senators and congres-
sional aides.
“It’s not my vision of the
perfect, but again, this is defi-
nitely going to be a strong
pro-growth tax package,”
said Sen. Ron Johnson,
R-Wis.
Republicans see passage
of the legislation as a polit-
ical imperative, proving to
voters they can govern as
the GOP fights to hold onto
its majorities in the House
and Senate. Republicans said
they expect the package to
increase economic growth,
generating additional tax
revenue and lessening the hit
to the budget deficit. Inde-
pendent economists aren’t as
optimistic.
Federal Reserve Chair
Janet Yellen said she and her
colleagues expect a “modest
lift” to economic growth
from the tax package.
Yellen said at a news
conference the likelihood of
lower taxes is why Fed offi-
cials expect the economy to
grow at 2.5 percent in 2018.
But growth would then slip
back closer to its recent 2
percent average.
She said that any wage
growth would likely stem
from the low unemployment
rate rather than the tax cuts.
Negotiators have removed
several
controversial
provisions from the tax bill,
including one that would
have eliminated the deduc-
tion for interest on student
loans and another deduction
for medical expenses, said
two congressional aides.
Also, the bill would no
longer start taxing gradu-
BRIEFLY
California
firefighters gain
on blaze amid
wind threat
LOS ANGELES
(AP) — Southern California
firefighters on Wednesday
continued working to
contain the fifth largest
fire in the state’s history
but warned that some
communities are still at
risk and could be in greater
danger if unpredictable
winds whip up again and fan
the flames.
Warnings of ideal
conditions for wildfires
were extended because of
Santa Ana winds and lack
of moisture, with a possible
increase in wind gust speeds
at the end of the week.
Evacuations continued
for the seaside enclaves of
Montecito, Summerland
and Carpinteria and the
inland agricultural town of
Fillmore.
Officials announced
Tuesday night that crews
had carved containment
lines around one-quarter
of the blaze straddling
Santa Barbara and Ventura
counties, northwest of Los
Angeles.
The so-called Thomas
fire has burned over 900
buildings, at least 700 of
them homes, since it broke
out Dec. 4. It stretches across
nearly 370 square miles of
Southern California.
Elsewhere, fire
officials announced that a
cooking fire at a homeless
encampment sparked a blaze
last week that destroyed six
homes in the exclusive Bel
Air neighborhood of Los
Angeles.
Arson investigators
determined that the so-called
Skirball fire near the world-
famous Getty museum was
started by an illegal fire
at a camp near a freeway
underpass, city fire Capt.
Erik Scott said.
Automatic recount
unlikely in
Alabama race
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
(AP) — Still-uncounted
ballots are unlikely to
change the outcome of the
U.S. Senate race in Alabama
enough to spur an automatic
recount, the state’s election
chief said Wednesday as
Democratic victor Doug
Jones urged Republican Roy
Moore to concede.
Speaking during an
afternoon news conference
in Birmingham, Jones said
a concession from Moore is
the “right thing” to do, and
that ‘it’s time to heal.”
Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP
In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County
Fire Department, firefighters keep an eye on flames as
pockets of unburned vegetation flare up off Bella Vista
Dr. in Montecito, Calif., Wednesday.
But Moore hasn’t budged
after a stunning loss in a
reliably GOP state.
“Realize, when the
vote is this close, it is not
over,” he told supporters at
his election-night party in
Montgomery late Tuesday.
Moore did not make
any public statements or
appearances Wednesday.
Jones is leading Moore
by about 20,000 votes, or
about 1.5 percent, with all
precincts counted.
A 2003 Alabama law
triggers an automatic recount
when the winner’s margin
of victory is less than half of
1 percent. Jones’ margin is
currently about three times
that threshold.
Minnesota Lt. Gov.
Tina Smith named
to fill Franken seat
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)
— Minnesota Gov. Mark
Dayton appointed Lt. Gov.
Tina Smith on Wednesday
to fill fellow Democrat
Al Franken’s Senate seat
until a special election in
November, setting up his
longtime and trusted adviser
for a potentially bruising
2018 special election.
Smith was widely seen as
Dayton’s top choice from the
moment Franken announced
his resignation last week.
But her previous decision
not to run for governor
had raised questions about
her appetite for a closely
watched and expensive
Senate campaign.
Smith said she is in and
fully committed.
It’s not clear when Smith
will head to Washington.
Franken, who resigned
under pressure from his own
party after he was accused
of improper behavior
by at least eight women,
announced last Thursday
that he would resign “in the
coming weeks.”
His office hasn’t set a
final departure date yet;
Smith indicated it would
likely be in early January.
her watch and White House
chief of staff John Kelly
had indicated that changes
were forthcoming, including
her dismissal, according to
two White House officials
who insisted on anonymity
because they were not
authorized to speak publicly
about personnel matters.
Better known by just
her first name, Manigault
Newman was escorted
from the White House
complex Tuesday night but
was allowed to tender her
resignation.
Manigault Newman,
who drew a top salary
of $179,700, was one of
Trump’s highest-profile
supporters during the
campaign.
Russian nuclear
plant says it emits
nuclear isotope
MOSCOW (AP) — A
senior executive at the
Russian nuclear processing
plant suspected of
being behind a spike of
radioactivity over Europe
Former ‘Apprentice’
contestant leaving
White House
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Omarosa Manigault
Newman — the former
“Apprentice” contestant
who became one of
President Donald Trump’s
most prominent African
-American supporters
— was escorted off the
White House grounds after
resigning her post as a
presidential adviser.
White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders said Wednesday that
Manigault Newman’s last
day will be Jan. 20, one year
since Trump’s inauguration.
Manigault Newman
was an assistant to the
president and director of
communications for the
White House Office of
Public Liaison, working
on outreach to various
constituency groups. But
the office languished under
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