Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 107, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 2017 Page: 5 of 19
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NATIONAL
5A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Friday, November 17, 2017
GOP tax plan
wins big victory in House
way to avert major losses in next
year’s congressional elections.
House Republicans conceded
they are watching the Senate
warily.
One would end the measure’s
personal tax cuts starting in
2026, a step GOP leaders took
to contain the measure’s costs.
The other would abolish the
“Obamacare” requirement that
people buy health coverage or
pay tax penalties.
Eliminating those fines is ex-
pected to mean fewer people
would obtain federally subsi-
dized policies, and the tax ana-
lysts count a reduction in those
subsidies as a tax increase. The
nonpartisan
Budget Ofiice has projected that
would result in 13 million more
uninsured people by 2027, mak-
ing the provision a political risk
for some lawmakers.
Republicans on the Finance
panel showed no signs of back-
ing down. They said the same
Taxation Committee tables
showed that higher earners were
still bearing a large share of the
overall tax burden and that ex-
cept for the halted health subsi-
dies all income groups would get
tax breaks.
Ending the personal tax cuts
for individuals in 2026, derided
as a gimmick by Democrats, is
designed to pare the bill’s long-
term costs to the Treasury. Leg-
islation cannot boost budget
deficits after 10 years if it is to
qualify for Senate procedures
that bar bill-killing filibusters.
Both chambers’ bills would
nearly double the standard de-
duction to around $12,000 for
individuals and about $24,000
for married couples and dra-
matically boost the current
$1,000 per-child tax credit.
But each plan also would
erase the current $4,050 per-
sonal exemption and annul or
reduce other tax breaks. The
House would limit interest de-
ductions to $500,000 in the val-
ue of future home mortgages,
down from today’s $1 million,
while the Senate would end de-
ductions for moving expenses
and tax preparation.
By Alan Fram
and Marcy Gordon
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Republi-
cans rammed a $1.5 trillion over-
haul of Americans’ business and
personal income taxes through
the U.S. House Thursday, edg-
ing the nation toward its biggest
rewrite in three decades and
President Donald Trump and
the GOP toward their first major
legislative triumph after 10
bumpy months of controlling
government.
However, the mostly party-
line 227-205 vote masked more
ominous problems in the Sen-
ate. There, a similar package re-
ceived a politically awkward ver-
dict from nonpartisan congres-
sional analysts showing it would
eventually produce higher taxes
for low- and middle-income
earners but deep reductions for
those better off.
Those projections came a day
after Wisconsin Sen. Ron John-
son became the first GOP sena-
tor to state opposition to the
measure, saying it didn’t cut lev-
ies enough for millions of part-
nerships and corporations. With
at least five other Republican
senators yet to declare support,
the bill’s fate is far from certain
in a chamber the GOP controls
by just 52-48.
Even so, Republicans are
hoping to send a compromise
bill for Trump to sign by Christ-
mas.
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“Political survival depends on
us doing this,” said Rep. Kevin
Cramer, R-N.D. “One of the
things that scares me a little bit is
that they’re going to screw up
the bill to the point we can’t pass
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The House plan and a com-
parable proposal Republicans
hoped to push through the Sen-
ate Finance Committee by
week’s end would deliver the
bulk of tax reductions to busi-
nesses.
Each version would cut the
35 percent corporate tax rate to
20 percent, while reducing per-
sonal rates for many taxpayers
and erasing but also shrinking
deductions. Projected federal
deficits would grow by $1.5 tril-
lion over 10 years.
As decades of Republicans
have done before them, GOP
lawmakers touted their tax cuts
as a boon to families across all
income lines and a boost for
businesses and the entire econo-
Congressional
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Evan Vucci/AP
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence leave Capitol Hill after meeting with
lawmakers on tax policy Thursday in Washington. Trump urged House Republicans on Thurs-
day to approve a near $L5 trillion tax overhaul.
Pelosi of California.
Thirteen House Republicans
— all but one from high-tax Cal-
ifornia, New York and New Jer-
sey — voted “no” because the
plan would erase tax deductions
for state and local income and
sales taxes and limit property tax
deductions to $10,000.
Defectors included House
Appropriations
Chairman Rodney Frelinghuy-
sen, R-N.J., who said the mea-
sure would “hurt New Jersey
families.”
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“Passing this bill is the single
biggest thing we can do to grow
the economy, to restore oppor-
tunity and help those middle in-
come families who are strug-
gling,” said House Speaker Paul
Ryan of Wisconsin.
But Democrats said the mea-
sure would disproportionately
help the wealthy and mean tax
increases for millions. The
House legislation would reduce
and ultimately repeal the tax
Americans pay on the largest in-
heritances, while the Senate
would limit that levy to fewer es-
tates.
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“Now is the time to deliver,”
the White House said in a writ-
ten statement that underscored
the party’s effort to maintain
momentum and outrace critics.
Those include the AARP lobby
for older people, major medical
organizations, Realtors — and,
in all likelihood, all Senate Dem-
ocrats.
With this summer’s crash of
the GOP effort to dismantle
President Barack Obama’s
health care law, Republicans see
a successful tax effort as the best
Trump traveled to the Capi-
tol before the vote to give House
Republicans a pep talk.
Susan Walsh/AP
House Speaker Paul Ryan, center, shares a laugh with Rep.
“He reminded us that is why Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., right, as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers,
we seek these offices,” said Rep. R-Wash., watches following a news conference after a vote
Steve Womack of Arkansas. Par- on tax reform on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.
ticipants said he also told them
he’d already spoken to Johnson, ski of Alaska have yet to commit $30,000 annually. By 2027,
the dissenting GOP senator, and to backing the tax measure,
said, “He’ll come around.” As the Senate Finance Com-
Besides Johnson, Republi-
can Sens. Susan Collins of
families making less than
$75,000 would face tax boosts
mittee worked on its plan, Con- while those making more would
gress’ Joint Committee on Taxa- enjoy lower levies.
Maine, Jeff Flake and John tion estimated it would mean
McCain of Arizona, Bob Corker higher taxes beginning in 2021 new figures to two Senate provi-
of Tennessee and lisa Murkow- for many families earning under sions.
The bill is “pillaging the mid-
dle class to pad the pockets of
the wealthiest and hand tax
breaks to corporations shipping
jobs out of America,” declared
House Minority Leader Nancy
Republicans attributed the
Franken accused of misconduct
<,
S
By Matthew Daly
and Kyle Potter
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Minne-
sota Sen. A1 Franken apologized
Thursday and faced a likely Sen-
ate ethics investigation after a
Los Angeles radio anchor ac-
cused him of forcibly kissing her
during a 2006 USO tour. Fellow
Democrats as well as Republi-
can colleagues called for an in-
vestigation.
Leeann Tweeden also ac-
cused Franken of posing for a
photo with his hands on her
breasts as she slept, while both
were performing for military
personnel two years before the
one-time comedian was elected
to the Senate.
Tweeden posted the allega-
tions, including the photo, on
the website of KABC, where she
works as a news anchor for a
morning radio show.
Tweeden said Thursday that
Franken was persistent, and “ev-
ery time I see him now, my
hands clench into fists.”
Still, she said she has no rea-
son not to accept his apology,
and is not calling for an ethics
investigation or for Franken to
resign. She told a news confer-
ence in Los Angeles that she
came forward hoping to inspire
others to tell their stories.
Senate Democratic Leader
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Karel Prinsloo/AP file photo
Elephants use their trunks to smell for possible danger in the
Tsavo East national park in Kenya in 2010.
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Trump lifts ban on
importing elephants
killed as trophies
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pressed skepticism Thursday
that killing elephants could help
save them. Wayne Pacelle, the
president and CEO of The Hu-
mane Society of the United
States, said the policy change
sends the wrong signal amid in-
ternational efforts to curb illegal
poaching.
‘What kind of message does
it send to say to the world that
poor Africans who are strug-
gling to survive cannot kill ele-
phants in order to use or sell
their parts to make a living, but
that it’s just fine for rich Amer-
icans to slay the beasts for their
tusks to keep as trophies?” Pa-
celle asked.
But the move was quickly
praised by groups that champi-
on big-game trophy hunting, in-
cluding Safari Club Internation-
al and the lobbying arm of the
National Rifle Association. The
two groups had sued to chal-
lenge the ban in court.
Chris Cox, executive director
of the National Rifle Associa-
tion’s Institute for Legislative
Action, called the action “a sig-
nificant step forward in having
hunting receive the recognition
it deserves as a tool of sound
wildlife management, which
had been all but buried in the
previous administration.”
The world’s largest land
mammal, the African elephant
has been classified as threatened
under the U.S. Endangered Spe-
cies Act since 1979.
By Michael Biesecker
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Trump administration said it
will allow the importation of
body parts from African ele-
phants shot for sport, contend-
ing that encouraging wealthy
big-game hunters to kill them
will aid the vulnerable species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service said in a written notice
issued Thursday that permitting
elephants from Zimbabwe and
Zambia to be brought back as
trophies will raise money for
conservation programs. A li-
censed two-week African ele-
phant hunt can cost more than
$50,000 per person, not includ-
ing airfare, according to adver-
tised rates.
The change marks a shift in
efforts to stop the importation of
elephant tusks and hides, over-
riding a 2014 ban imposed by
the Obama administration. The
new policy applies to the re-
mains of African elephants
killed between January 2016
and December 2018.
“Legal, well-regulated sport
hunting as part of a sound man-
agement program can benefit
certain species by providing in-
centives to local communities to
conserve those species and by
putting much-needed revenue
back into conservation,” the
agency said in a statement.
Animal rights activists and
environmental groups ex-
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Staff Sgt. Patrick N. Moes, U.S. Army/AP
Then-comedian Al Franken and sports commentator Leeann Tweeden perform a comic skit
for service members during the USO Sergeant Major of the Army’s 2006 Hope and Freedom
Tour in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., apologized Thursday after Tweeden
accused him of forcibly kissing her during the 2006 USO tour.
Some of the more forceful
statements came from the Sen-
ate’s Democratic women.
Claire McCaskill of Missouri
said she was “shocked and con-
cerned” at the allegations. “The
behavior described is completely
unacceptable. Comedy is no ex-
cuse for inappropriate conduct,
and I believe there should be an
ethics investigation,” McCaskill
said.
experiences,” he said. “Coming
from the world of comedy, I’ve
told and written a lot of jokes
that I once thought were funny
but later came to realize were
just plain offensive.”
Of the photo, Franken said:
“I look at it now, and I feel dis-
gusted with myself. It isn’t funny.
It’s completely inappropriate.
It’s obvious how Leeann would
feel violated by that picture.”
Senate Democrats reacted
swiftly and with one voice to the
allegation that came as Repub-
licans are grappling with allega-
tions of molestation against Re-
publican Senate candidate Roy
Moore in Alabama.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, who has said
Moore should step aside, quickly
said the Senate should look into
Franken.
‘With all credible allegations
of sexual harassment or assault,
I believe the Ethics Committee
should review the matter,”
McConnell said.
Franken said he welcomed
the investigation.
head, mashed his lips against
mine and aggressively stuck his
tongue in my mouth,” she wrote.
The photo that she included
was taken on the trip home from
Afghanistan. Franken is shown
grinning and staring at the cam-
era while reaching out as if to
grope Tweeden’s breasts as she
sleeps. Tweeden said she didn’t
discover the photo until she re-
turned home.
Speaking on her radio show
Thursday morning, Tweeden
said she didn’t come forward
with the allegations sooner be-
cause she feared her career, in-
cluding a stint as a swimsuit
model, would lead others to dis-
count her story.
“I felt belittled. I was
ashamed. I’ve had to live with
this for 11 years,” she said on-air.
“Somehow it was going to be my
fault. It was not going to be
worth the fight.”
Franken is a longtime come-
dian and Saturday Night Live
writer who won a Minnesota
seat in the Senate after a lengthy
recount in 2009.
Chuck Schumer called the alle-
gations “troubling” and said he
hopes and expects that the Sen-
ate Ethics Committee will inves-
tigate.
‘Sexual harassment is never
acceptable and must not be tol-
erated,” Schumer said.
Franken’s fellow Minnesota
Democrat, Amy Klobuchar,
said, “This should not have hap-
pened to Leeann Tweeden. I
strongly condemn this behavior,
and the Senate Ethics Commit-
tee must open an investigation.”
Franken initially released a
brief statement in which he
apologized but questioned
Tweeden’s recollection of his be-
havior during their rehearsal for
a skit. In a longer statement
Thursday afternoon, he again
apologized while maintaining
that he remembered the re-
hearsal differently.
“While I don’t remember the
rehearsal for the skit as Leeann
does, I understand why we need
to listen to and believe women’s
Patty Murray of Washington
state said she was glad Franken
had apologized but “that doesn’t
reverse what he’s done or end
the matter.”
Tweeden told The Associated
Press that Franken wrote a skit
for the pair that was filled with
“sexual innuendo,” and that he
had brought a woman’s thong as
a prop that he waved around
during their performance. Part
of the skit included a kiss, she
said, and he insisted they prac-
tice during a rehearsal despite
her protests.
“We did the line leading up to
the kiss and then he came at me,
put his hand on the back of my
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 107, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 2017, newspaper, November 17, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131850/m1/5/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .