House limits tax credit for illegal immigrants
WASHINGTON – The House has passed a bill that would gradually increase the child tax credit and make it available to more families with higher incomes.
But millions of low-income families would lose the $1,000-a-child credit in 2018, when enhancements championed by President Barack Obama are set to expire.
The bill also aims to make a dent in illegal immigration by prohibiting people without Social Security numbers from claiming a portion of the credit reserved for low-income families.
The White House has threatened to veto the bill, saying it favors high-income taxpayers over the poor, while adding $90 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade.
House Republicans say the bill strengthens the tax credit by increasing it as inflation rises and by making it available to more middle-income families.
Lawmakers try to reach deal on VA health care
WASHINGTON – A day after offering competing plans to improve veterans’ health care, the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees are attempting again to find a compromise.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Republican Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida chair their chamber’s panels on veterans’ affairs. The two men had a public spat Thursday that appeared to put in jeopardy efforts by Congress to fix a veterans’ health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records.
Sanders’ proposal would cost about $25 billion over three years to lease new clinics, hire more doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments with VA doctors to get outside care. Miller’s proposal would require only $10 billion in emergency spending.
U.S. says China testing anti-satellite missile
WASHINGTON – The U.S. says China has tested a missile designed to destroy satellites and is urging Beijing to refrain from destabilizing actions.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the “nondestructive” test occurred Wednesday. She said a previous destructive test of the system in 2007 created thousands of pieces of dangerous debris in space.
Harf said Friday that the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems threaten the long-term security and sustainability of the outer-space environment that all nations depend upon.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, citing a Defense Ministry statement, reported a successful missile interception test conducted from land within Chinese territory late Wednesday.
Xinhua did not refer to it as an anti-satellite system. It said such tests could strengthen Chinese air defense against ballistic missiles.
House OK’s resolution to bar troops from Iraq
WASHINGTON – The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday that would bar President Barack Obama from sending forces to Iraq in a “sustained combat role” without congressional approval, a bill likely to have greater symbolic than legal effect.
The measure still must pass the Senate to force a showdown with the president. And it risks opening up several questions related to the Constitution’s separation of powers between executive and legislative branches, even if Obama and his top military advisers already have ruled out sending combat troops to help Iraq fight extremist insurgents.
Friday’s legislation was approved by a 370-40 vote after Republican and Democratic lawmakers emphasized the need to reassert what they argued is their constitutional control over authorizing military force.
“This resolution makes one clear statement,” said its sponsor, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “If the president decides we should further involve our military in Iraq, he needs to work with Congress to authorize it.”
Associated Press
