Trump says he’ll be ‘angry’ if Senate health care bill flops
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will be “very angry” if the Senate fails to pass a revamped Republican health care bill and said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must “pull it off,” intensifying pressure on party leaders laboring to win over unhappy GOP senators and preserve the teetering measure.
Trump’s remarks came a day before McConnell, R-Ky., planned to release his revised legislation to a closed-door meeting of GOP senators. The new legislation provides additional money aimed at easing some of the initial Medicaid cuts and makes other changes aimed at nailing down support, but internal GOP disputes lingered that were threatening to sink it.
With all Democrats set to vote no, McConnell was moving toward a do-or-die roll call next week on beginning debate, a motion that will require backing from 50 of the 52 GOP senators.
Conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Wednesday he would oppose the motion and moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine seemed all but sure to do the same — leaving McConnell with zero margin for error to sustain his party’s goal of toppling President Barack Obama’s health care law. Several other GOP senators were holdouts as well, leaving McConnell and his lieutenants just days to win them over or face a major defeat.
In a White House interview conducted Wednesday for the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club,” Trump said it was time for action by congressional Republicans who cast scores of votes “that didn’t mean anything” to repeal the 2010 law while Obama was still president.
Anti-Qatar bloc meets US envoy, but no breakthrough in sight
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrapped up talks with the king of Saudi Arabia and other officials from Arab countries lined up against Qatar on Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough in an increasingly entrenched dispute that has divided some of America’s most important Mideast allies.
The secretary of state’s trip from Kuwait to the western Saudi city of Jiddah followed discussions the previous day with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, that ended with the signing of a counterterrorism pact.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and cut air, sea and land routes with it over a month ago, accusing Doha of supporting extremist groups. Qatar denies the allegations.
The quartet has given no indication it would be willing to back off from its hard-nosed stance. Just hours before Tillerson’s arrival in Jiddah, the four Arab states said the counterterrorism deal that Qatar signed with him on Tuesday was “not enough” to ease their concerns.
General: Plane at cruising altitude before problems, crash
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The military transport plane that slammed into soybean fields Monday in the Mississippi Delta, killing 15 Marines and a Navy sailor, appears to have developed problems while high in the air, a Marine general said Wednesday.
“Indications are something went wrong at cruise altitude,” Brig. Gen. Bradley S. James told reporters Wednesday in Itta Bena, Mississippi. That squares with comments from witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press who said they saw the plane descend from high altitude with an engine smoking.
The crash of the KC-130 killed nine Marines from Newburgh, New York, and six Marines and a Navy Corpsman from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, James said.
James said that there is a “large debris pattern,” including two main impact areas separated by a mile, with a four-lane highway in between them.
Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher repeated earlier warnings that people in the crash area shouldn’t pick up any debris, which could include weapons, ammunition and evidence valuable to determining why the plane crashed.
FBI nominee rejects Trump claim: Russia probe no witch hunt
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI broke with the president in key areas Wednesday, rejecting the idea that an investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump election campaign is a “witch hunt” and promising not to cave to any pressure from a White House that has challenged boundaries with the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
Christopher Wray, the former high-ranking Justice Department official whom Trump nominated last month, told senators at his confirmation hearing that he would never let politics get in the way of the bureau’s mission. And he said he “sure as heck” would not offer a pledge of loyalty to the president.
Asserting his independence, he said, “My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law. Those have been my guideposts throughout my career, and I will continue to adhere to them no matter the test.”
Wray’s responses seemed to satisfy both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, many of whom signaled their support for him.
Wray, 50, would inherit the FBI at a particularly challenging time given Trump’s abrupt dismissal of James Comey, who was admired within the bureau. Yet the hearing, the first public window into Wray’s views since his selection, was largely devoid of fireworks in keeping with what friends and supporters have described as the nominee’s low-key, disciplined style.
Yellen says Fed watching slowdown in inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen raised the possibility Wednesday that the Fed would consider slowing the pace of its interest rate increases if inflation remained persistently below its target level.
For the moment, Yellen signaled no change in policy, indicating that the three rate hikes since December will likely be followed by one more hike this year. She also said the Fed wants to begin gradually trimming its massive $4.5 trillion in bond holdings later this year, a move that will also put upward pressure on interest rates.
But Wall Street investors took heart from her slightly more cautious view of a recent puzzling slowdown in inflation, believing it could signal that the Fed that might be willing to put further rate hikes on pause.
“Monetary policy is not on a pre-set course,” Yellen told lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee. “We’re watching it very closely and stand ready to adjust our policy if it appears that the inflation undershoot will be persistent.”
The Fed’s key policy rate, the federal funds rate, currently stands in a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent. The last three increases occurred in December, March and June. Many analysts believe the Fed will raise rates one more time this year, either in September or December.
DHS chief has doubts about legality of immigration program
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Hispanic lawmakers on Wednesday that a program that protects young immigrants from deportation is likely illegal, though he is personally supportive, according to House members.
Kelly attended a closed-door meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who pressed him on former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrival Program. DACA gives hundreds of thousands of young people brought into the country as children protection from deportation and a work permit.
A group of attorneys general has called on the Trump administration to phase out the program. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others have threated to amend a district court case to challenge the DACA program unless the Trump administration acts to phase it out.
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pushed Kelly for an update on whether the administration would defend the program. They said they came away from the meeting concerned.
“He’s personally for it. He thinks it will not hold up, according to the attorneys he’s spoken with,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. “He was challenged by those of us in the room, by lawmakers, to publicly announce his own position and to be a leader and to stand up and defend DACA. He said he would consider it.”
