Author: Alan Fram
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1st GOP senator opposes tax bill in early sign of problems
WASHINGTON — Wisconsin’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…
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Another accuser comes forward against Roy Moore
WASHINGTON — A second woman abruptly emerged Monday to accuse Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her as a teenager in the late 1970s, this time in a locked car, further roiling the Alabama Republican’s candidacy for an open Senate seat. Leaders of Moore’s own party intensified their efforts to push him out of the race.…
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Big GOP tax bill would cut rates _ but also popular breaks
WASHINGTON — With fanfare and a White House kickoff, House Republicans unfurled a broad tax-overhaul plan Thursday that would touch virtually all Americans and the economy’s every corner, mingling sharply lower rates for corporations and reduced personal taxes for many with fewer deductions for home-buyers and families with steep medical bills. The measure, which would…
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Trump tweets that 401(k) tax incentives ‘safe’ in tax plan
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump promised Monday there will be “no change” to tax incentives for the popular 401 (k) retirement programs. “This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!” Trump tweeted. The president appeared to be responding to a recent report in The New York Times…
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GOP, Dem senators push health deal as Trump keeps distance
WASHINGTON — The authors of a bipartisan plan to calm health insurance markets said Wednesday they’ll push the proposal forward, even as President Donald Trump’s stance ricocheted from supportive to disdainful to arm’s-length and the plan’s fate teetered. “If something can happen, that’s fine,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But I won’t do…
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A short-term health deal by senators _ with Trump’s blessing
WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic senators joined in announcing a plan Tuesday aimed at stabilizing America’s health insurance markets in the wake of President Donald Trump’s order to terminate “Obamacare” subsidies. Trump himself spoke approvingly of the deal, but some conservatives denounced it as an insurance company bailout, making its future uncertain. The agreement followed…
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GOP senator says deal set on payments to health insurers
WASHINGTON — A key Republican senator said Tuesday he’s reached a deal with his Democratic counterpart on resuming federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked. At the White House, the president spoke favorably about the bipartisan pact. The agreement would involve a two-year extension of federal payments to insurers that Trump…
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Collins’ opposition essentially kills GOP health care drive
WASHINGTON — The last-gasp Republican drive to tear down President Barack Obama’s health care law essentially died Monday as Maine Sen. Susan Collins joined a small but decisive cluster of GOP senators in opposing the push. The Maine moderate said in a statement that the legislation would make “devastating” cuts in the Medicaid program for…
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Opposition from GOP senators grows, jeopardizes health bill
WASHINGTON — Republican opposition to the last-ditch GOP health care bill swelled to near-fatal numbers Sunday as Sen. Susan Collins all but closed the door on supporting the teetering effort to scrap the Obama health care law and Sen. Ted Cruz said that “right now” he doesn’t back it. White House legislative liaison Marc Short…
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Sanders bill expands Medicare for all, lacks details on cost
WASHINGTON — Americans would get health coverage simply by showing a new government-issued card and would no longer owe out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles, according to legislation Sen. Bernie Sanders released Wednesday charting a stem-to-stern reshaping of the country’s health care system. But the Vermont independent’s description of his measure omitted specifics about how much it…