Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/797496
ByEricaWerner and Alan Fram The Associated Press WASHINGTON R Republican leaders drove their long-prom- ised legislation to disman- tle Barack Obama's health care law over its first big hurdles in the House on Thursday, claiming fresh momentum despite cries of protest from right, left and center. After grueling all-night sessions, the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees both approved their portions of the bill along party- line votes. The legislation, strongly supported by President Donald Trump, would eliminate the un- popular tax penalties for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, re- placing Obama's law with a conservative blueprint likely to cover far fewer people but — Republicans hope — increase choice. The vote in Ways and Means came before dawn, while the Energy and Com- merce meeting lasted past 27 hours as exhausted law- makers groped for coffee refills, clean shirts and showers. Angry Democrats pro- tested that Republicans were acting in the dead of night to rip insurance coverage from poor Amer- icans. But Republican leaders sounded increas- ingly confident that, af- ter seven years of empty promises about undoing Obama's law, they might finally be able to overcome their own deep divisions and deliver a bill to Trump to sign. "This is the closest we will ever get to repeal- ing and replacing Obam- acare," Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said at a press briefing where he arrived in shirt-sleeves to deliver a wonky power-point presen- tation on the GOP bill, part TED Talk and part "School- house Rock." "The time is here. The time is now. This is the mo- ment. And this is the clos- est this will ever happen," Ryan said. Leaders are aiming for passage by the full House in the next couple of weeks, and from there the legisla- tion would go to the Sen- ate and, they hope, on to Trump's desk. The presi- dent has promised to sign it, declaring over Twitter on Thursday, "We are talk- ing to many groups and it will end in a beautiful pic- ture!" Yet at the same time the president is leaving himself a political out, privately telling conservative lead- ers that if the whole effort fails, Democrats will ulti- mately shoulder the blame for the problems that re- main. That's according to a participant in the meet- ing Wednesday who spoke only on condition of ano- nymity to relay the private discussion. Democrats reject that notion, and the entire GOP effort. "What we have seen is the Republicans' long- feared and job-killing health bill that means less coverage and more cost to American people," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "I don't think the presi- dent really knows what he's talking about." The GOP legislation would kill Obama's re- quirement that everyone buy insurance by repeal- ing the tax fines imposed on those who don't. The bill would replace income- based subsidies Obama provided with tax credits based more on age, and in- surers would charge higher premiums for customers who drop coverage for over two months. The extra billions Wash- ington has sent states to expand the federal-state Medicaid program would phase out, and spend- ing on the entire program would be capped at per-pa- tient limits. Around $600 billion in tax boosts that Obama's statute imposed on wealthy Americans and others to finance his over- haul would be repealed. In- surers could charge older customers five times more than younger ones instead of the current 3-1 limit but would still be required to include children up to age 26 in family policies, and they would be barred from imposing annual or life- time benefit caps. CONGRESS GOPleadersclaimmomentum as health bill clears hurdles By Philip Issa and Bassem Mroue The Associated Press BEIRUT A Kurdish-led force fighting the Islamic State group with the sup- port of U.S. troops will close in on the extremists' de facto capital Raqqa within a few weeks, but the battle for the city will be difficult, a U.S. military official said Thursday. Air Force Col. John Dor- rian said the U.S. force con- sisting of a couple of hun- dred Marines that arrived in the region south of the Syrian-Turkish border on Wednesday will not have any frontline roles but will provide artillery fire to support the advance of the Kurdish-led Syrian Demo- cratic Forces. "The intent of their presence is to provide all- weather fire support, artil- lery fire to support their ad- vance as they continue the isolation of Raqqa," he said. "This is just some added fire power that will be very dif- ficult for the enemy to deal with." The deployment reflects Washington's deeper in- volvement in Syria under the administration of Pres- ident Donald Trump and thrusts the U.S. further into a difficult diplomatic entan- glement. Dorrian told The Associ- ated Press by telephone that the U.S.-backed force will close in on Raqqa within a few weeks and warned that the battle for the city will likely be difficult as the ex- tremists are well dug in. He said a complicating fac- tor is that the U.S. does not have a partner government to work with in Syria as is the case in Iraq. The U.S. already had some 500 advisers work- ing with the Syrian Demo- cratic Forces in addition to a force of 400 that arrived more recently, Dorrian said. He said the troops include U.S. Army Rangers already in Syria. The SDF, a coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Chris- tian fighters, has been the most effective force fight- ing IS in Syria. The SDF has been on the offensive in the Raqqa area since Novem- ber under the cover of air- strikes by the U.S.-led coali- tion with the aim of even- tually besieging the city before storming it. Dorian said the SDF "made excellent progress and the enemy hasn't been able to stop them from do- ing the things that they set out to do." He added that SDF fighters have so far captured about 6,400 square kilometers (2,471 square miles) of terrain from IS. "That's excellent prog- ress," Dorrian said, add- ing that SDF fighters have also cut many supply lines used by IS to try to either escape from the city "or to have fighters leave the area and conduct terrorist oper- ations elsewhere away from Iraq and Syria." Dorrian said the SDF will need a "few more weeks" to completely isolate Raqqa and a decision will be made about the timing "of the lib- eration battle to begin." CIVIL WAR US force in Syria to help anti-IS fighters with firepower ARAB24NETWORKFILE A frame grab from video provided by Arab 24network, shows U.S. forces patrolling on the outskirts of the Syrian town, Manbij, a flashpoint between Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, in al-Asaliyah village, Aleppo province, Syria. Patrick's Pumping SepticPumpingServices Red Bluff, CA Garet Patrick Owner/Operator 530-366-6899 4patricks@att.net Available 24/7 FACTORYMATTRESS OUTLET 3650MainSt.inCottonwood 347-3646 Open7Days(since1920) • FREE Delivery • FREE Take-Out SAVEFROM $ 100 $ 250 OFF With This Coupon TO QUALITY 2-SIDED FLIPPABLE MATTRESSES RUNNINGS ROOFING and CONSTRUCTION SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 NoMoney Down! 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