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ByRobertBurns TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON RetiredGen. James Mattis on Thurs- day cruised toward likely confirmation as Donald Trump's defense secretary, overwhelmingly prevail- ing in a Senate vote grant- ing him an exemption to run the Pentagon as a re- cently retired officer. At his confirmation hearing, he called Russia the nation's No. 1 security threat, ac- cusing its leader of trying to "break" NATO. The Senate voted 81-17 to approve legislation over- riding a prohibition against former U.S. service mem- bers who have been out of uniform less than seven years from holding the De- fense Department's top job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military. The House is schedule to vote on Friday. Mattis, 66, spent four de- cades in uniform, retiring in 2013 with a reputation as an effective combat leader and an astute strategist. Separate from the override legislation, the Senate will vote later on Mattis' nomi- nation, which is seen as all but certain to be confirmed. The only other exception to the rule was made for the legendary George Marshall in 1950, the year Mattis was born. Even some of Trump's strongest critics have sup- ported the waiver for Mat- tis, arguing that his experi- ence and temperament can serve as a steadying influ- ence on a new president with no experience in na- tional security. At an uncontentious con- firmation hearing, Mattis sketched an international security scene dominated by dark images of an ag- gressive Russia, resurgent China and violent Mid- east. He described Iran as a major destabilizing force, called North Korea a poten- tial nuclear threat and said the U.S. military needs to grow larger and readier for combat. "We see each day a world awash in change," Mat- tis said. "Our country is still at war in Afghanistan and our troops are fighting against ISIS and other ter- rorist groups in the Middle East and elsewhere. Russia is raising grave concerns on several fronts, and China is shredding trust along its periphery." Mattis portrayed Russia as an adversary and said the history of U.S.-Russian relations is not encourag- ing. "I have very modest ex- pectations for areas of coop- eration with Mr. Putin," he said, delivering an assess- ment strikingly dissonant with that of his potential commander in chief. Trump has repeatedly praised Pu- tin, even as U.S. intelligence agencies have accused the Russian leader of orches- trating a campaign of in- terference in the 2016 U.S. election. Of Putin, said Mattis, a former NATO military leader:"Heistryingtobreak the North Atlantic alliance." He said he has explained to Trump his views on Rus- sia, which include a deep worry that Moscow is de- termined to use intimida- tion and nuclear threats to create a sphere of unstable states on its periphery. Mattis, who has served in numerous senior mili- tary positions, including commander of U.S. Central Command in charge of all American forces in the Mid- dle East, said he supports the Obama administration's moves to reassure Euro- pean allies after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and military activity in eastern Ukraine. While the U.S. should re- main open to working with Russia, Mattis said, the prospects for cooperation were narrowing even as ar- eas of disagreement grow larger. As he spoke, Trump's choice to run the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas, sided with intelligence offi- cials who claim the Kremlin was behind the election cy- berattacks, adopting a sim- ilarly tough stand against Russia in his confirmation hearing. Ties between the former Cold War foes also have been strained by Syr- ia's civil war. Mattis faced no hostile questions from Republicans or Democrats, receiving bi- partisan praise for his repu- tation as a straight-talking, well-read man of integrity and intelligence. DEFENSE SECRETARY Pentagonpickcruisestowardlikelyconfirmation J.SCOTTAPPLEWHITE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., le , welcomes Defense Secretary- designate James Mattis on Capitol Hill Thursday. EDUCATION JOHN LOCHER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Students and faculty recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" during an assembly at the Crystal Boarding School in Crystal, N.M., on the Navajo Nation. By Russell Contreras The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A small, remote American Indian village in the sce- nic base of one of the most visited places on earth is at the center of a lawsuit that seeks to dramatically reform the conditions of U.S. Bureau of Indian Ed- ucation schools. The bureau failed to protect students on the Havasupai Indian Reserva- tion in the Grand Canyon by ignoring complaints about an understaffed school, a lack of special education and a deficient curriculum, according to a complaint filed Thurs- day in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. Havasupai Chairman Don E. Watahomigie said his Arizona village is ac- cessible only by helicop- ter or an eight-mile hike on a horse through the Grand Canyon. But the 70 or so children who attend Havasupai Elementary School are entitled to the same education as other students across the coun- try, he said. "The Havasupai Tribal Council has approached the Bureau of Indian Ed- ucation many times about its failures," Watahomigie said. "Each time we raise these issues we are given promises that are never de- livered upon." The lawsuit, submit- ted on behalf of nine stu- dents, said the school often sent students with special needs home early or called police to deal with bad be- havior related to their con- ditions. In addition, the school taught only math and reading and failed to expose children to subjects like science, social studies and physical education, the lawsuit said. "These circumstances are not unique to the Havasupai," Kathryn Eid- mann, an attorney at Los Angeles-based firm Pub- lic Counsel. "This is a cri- sis across BIE schools that the federal government has acknowledged again and again." Eidmann said the law- suit seeks a "declaration" to force all Bureau of In- dian Education schools to follow the law on provid- ing special need services and a thorough curricu- lum. Most of the Bureau of Indian Education schools are located on rural reser- vations that have been un- der the control of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for decades. The bureau oversees 183 schools in 23 states. The BIE also oversees the Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Poly- technic Institute in New Mexico. Lawsuit faults Bureau of Indian Education schools and their conditions By Cathy Bussewitz The Associated Press HONOLULU Lawmakers in Hawaii and several other states want to prevent pres- idential candidates from appearing on their states' ballots unless the candi- dates release their tax re- turns. They're responding to President-elect Donald Trump's decision to not re- lease his tax returns during the presidential campaign, breaking decades of prece- dent. The Hawaii bill would re- quire candidates to release five years of federal and state tax returns to qual- ify for the ballot, state Rep. Chris Lee said Wednesday. Similar proposals are circu- lating in California, Massa- chusetts, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. "It's a reasonable step since every modern presi- dent has released their tax returns and put their assets into a blind trust to make sure the only interest they have is the interest of our country and its people," Lee said. "I think we're in a very dangerous climate in which that could change." Lee consulted with law- yers who assured him it's le- gal, and if the bill passes it will undergo a thorough re- view from the state attor- ney general, he said. Lee is still working out details on the Hawaii bill, but he plans to include a way to make the tax re- turns public. In the Mas- sachusetts bill, that state's Secretary of State would be required to make the tax re- turns public within a month of each vote. "If even one or two states take action, it changes the game," Lee said. Trump has interests in 500 companies in about 20 countries, according to a disclosure document re- leased in May. California state Sens. Scott Wiener and Mike Mc- Guire are planning to in- troduce similar legislation, saying financial informa- tion should be made avail- able to voters to build criti- cal public trust. A District of Columbia lawmaker plans to intro- duce a similar bill. The Dis- trict's three electoral votes have gone to the Demo- cratic candidate in every election since city residents were granted the right to vote for president in 1961. Nationwide, about two- thirds of registered voters said it's somewhat or very important for presidential candidates to release their tax returns, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll in September. POLITICS Bills require presidential candidates to release tax returns before their names can appear on ballots By Alan Fram The Associated Press WASHINGTON Under mounting pressure from Donald Trump and rank- and-file Republicans, con- gressional leaders are talk- ing increasingly about chiseling an early bill that dismantles President Barack Obama's health care law and begins to sup- plant it with their own vi- sion of how the nation's $3 trillion-a-year medical sys- tem should work. Yet even as Republi- cans said they will pur- sue their paramount 2017 goal aggressively, leaders left plenty of wiggle room Thursday about exactly what they will do. Their caution underscored persis- tent divisions over how to recraft a law they've tried erasing since its 2010 en- actment, plus their desire to avoid panicking the 20 mil- lion people who've gained coverage under Obama's overhaul or unsettling health insurance markets. In an interview with con- servative radio host Mike Gallagher, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the initial repeal and replace legislation will be "the pri- mary part of our health care policy" and would be followed by other bills. Later, he told reporters at the Capitol that while Re- publicans will work quickly, "We're not holding hard deadlines, only because we want to get it right." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the early repeal bill would "begin to make im- portant progress." He said Republicans "plan to take on the replacement chal- lenge in manageable pieces, with step-by-step reforms." He set no timetable. "Repealing and replac- ing Obamacare is a big challenge. It isn't going to be easy," McConnell added. The leaders spoke a day before the House plans to give final approval to a bud- get that would shield the forthcoming repeal-and-re- place bill from a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Stripping Democrats of their ability to endlessly de- lay that bill — a tactic that takes 60 votes to thwart — is crucial for Republicans, who have just a 52-48 edge in the Senate. That chamber approved the budget early Thursday by a near party- line 51-48 vote, drawing a Twitter thumbs-up from Trump. "Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to #RepealObamacare — now it's onto the House!" the president-elect tweeted. Trump, who enters the White House next Friday, has pressed Republicans in recent days to act quickly on annulling and reshaping Obama's law. GOP leaders seem to be taking his urg- ings to heart, though some have suggested his desire for speed doesn't match Con- gress' vintage lack of agility. Asked how quickly law- makers could send Trump a bill, No. 2 Senate Repub- lican leader John Cornyn of Texas said, "The most important thing is when do you get 218 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate," the majorities needed for passage. "He's not a creature of this place so there's always a bit of a learning curve," said the No. 3 Senate GOP leader, John Thune of South Dakota. Obama's law, which he considers a trophy of his soon-to-end presidency, has provided health care subsi- dies and Medicaid coverage for millions who don't get insurance at work. It has required insurers to cover certain services like family planning and people who are already ill, and curbed rates the sick and elderly can be charged. GOP leaders hope to use their first bill to void and re- write as much of Obama's law as they can, but so far they've provided little detail. CONGRESS Re pu bl ic an l ea de rs l oo k to e ar ly h ea lt h care bill, though details remain vague "Repealing and replacing Obamacare is a big challenge. It isn't going to be easy." — Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate majority leader RedBluffDailyNews 728 Main Street Red Bluff, CA 96080 Effective January 1, 2017 Red Bluff Daily News will no longer use P.O. 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