Mixed signals sent on fate of tax bill’s health provision

Two of President Donald Trump's top economic advisers sent mixed signals Sunday on the fate of a health care provision in the Senate version of a $1.5 trillion measure to overhaul business and personal income taxes that is expected to be voted on after Thanksgiving. The provision to repeal a requirement that everyone in the U.S. have insurance has emerged as a major sticking point for Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has said that issue should be dealt with separately from the push by Trump and fellow Republicans to overhaul the tax code.

Zimbabwe ruling party fires Mugabe as chief; now impeachment

In a euphoric gathering that j... . A happy protester pulls a face as he and others stand under a large national flag, at a demonstration of tens of thousands at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare, Zimbabwe Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017.

The Latest: Zimbabwe ruling party meets on expelling Mugabe

In a euphoric gathering that j... . A happy protester pulls a face as he and others stand under a large national flag, at a demonstration of tens of thousands at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare, Zimbabwe Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017.

Sen. Flake says GOP is ‘toast’ if it follows Trump, Moore

Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake was caught on an open microphone saying the GOP is "toast" if it follows President Donald Trump and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. The Arizona senator was talking to the mayor of the Phoenix suburb of Mesa offstage Friday after speaking at a town hall session for aerospace company workers.

Arizona’s Flake says GOP is ‘toast’ if it walks with Trump, Moore

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., speaks to aerospace workers about the current congressional tax reform proposal in Mesa, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 17, 2017. AP Photo/Bob Christie) PHOENIX - Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake was caught on an open microphone saying that the GOP is "toast" if it follows President Donald Trump and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Sen. Jeff Flake says Republicans may be ‘toast’, citing…

Some Alabama pastors stand behind Roy Moore, cite "war on men" - Despite allegations of sexual misconduct against Senate candidate Roy Moore, many pastors in Alabama and other states in the Southeast are sticking by the twice-removed Chief Justice. - "This attack on Judge Moore is an attempt Flake, on hot mic, says GOP will be "toast" if it's the party of Trump and Moore - Outspoken Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona was heard on a hot mic Saturday saying the Republican Party will be "toast" if it is defined by figures like President Trump and Alabama Republican Roy Moore.

Hot mic catches Jeff Flake saying Republican Party is ‘toast’ if it embraces Roy Moore, Trump

A hot mic caught Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., saying that the Republican Party is "toast" if it embraces President Trump and Roy Moore. "If we become the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, we are toast," he said at a tax reform event in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday.

GOP Muscling Tax Bill Through House; Hits Senator Roadblock

Republicans are muscling their massive tax bill through the House, with President Donald Trump urging them on to a critically needed legislative victory and GOP House leaders exuding confidence they have the votes. But the tax overhaul hit a roadblock Wednesday as Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the first Republican senator to say he opposes his party's politically must-do tax legislation.

House Republicans await audience with Trump on tax overhaul

Republicans are muscling their massive tax bill through the House, with President Donald Trump urging them on to a critically needed legislative victory and GOP House leaders exuding confidence they have the votes. But the tax overhaul hit a roadblock Wednesday as Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the first Republican senator to say he opposes his party's politically must-do tax legislation.

Tax bill thrown into uncertainty as first GOP senator comes out against it

Uncertainty gripped the Senate on Wednesday over efforts to pass a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax cut after a Wisconsin Republican became the first senator in his party to declare that he could not vote for the tax bill as written, and other senators expressed serious misgivings over the cost and effect on the middle class. The House is set Thursday to pass its own version of the tax bill, which would cut taxes by more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years and broadly rewrite the business tax code.

The Latest: Senate bill adds tax break for family leave

A new tax break for businesses that give their workers paid family leave has been put into the Senate Republican tax bill now moving toward approval. The proposal by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., was included in a late revision to the bill written by Sen. Orrin Hatch, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

The GOP Has Its First Casualty In Tax Reform Push

Well, the smooth road to tax reform just it a bump with Sen. Ron Johnson signaling that he will be a "no" vote on the legislation. The Wisconsin Republican is the first to definitively say he will be against the bill, as he feels it gives too much to corporations at the expense of other businesses.

Democratic cloakroom in Washington named after Gabby Giffords, Leo Ryan

Democratic lawmakers who want to chat off the House floor will soon do so in a room named for two former members of Congress who were targeted by violence. The "Gabrielle Giffords-Leo J. Ryan Cloakroom" is named for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, and former Rep. Leo J. Ryan, who was killed in 1978 during the Jonestown massacre.

Republicans continue abandoning Moore after new accusations

Roy Moore's support from fellow Republicans is hemorrhaging after a second woman accused the Alabaman of groping her when she was a teenager in the late 1970s, the latest setback to his effort to win an open Senate seat that suddenly seems up for grabs. "I can tell you without hesitation this is absolutely false," Moore said Monday at an abruptly called news conference in Gallant, Alabama, after the latest allegations were made.

How the Republican Party Will Die

Gabriel Sherman has done some outstanding reporting and gotten some major scoops, but when he says he has a source who claims that Steve Bannon predicted that Trump has only a thirty percent chance of completing his term, I'm not sure if I can take that to the bank. I do know that Bannon is worried about it, because he's said that on the record.

America’s crash course in the nonapology for abuse: Watch for those ‘ifs’

With so many women coming forward to tell their stories of sexual abuse and harassment, America is getting a course in Apology 101. Lesson 1: the moment an "if" enters an apology - when the offending person is sorry "if" the offensive thing they did offended anyone - it becomes a nonapology.

Deficit worries complicate path for Republican tax cuts

Unease among Republicans about a massive increase in the federal deficit could complicate passage of two tax-cut bills working their way through the U.S. Congress, endangering President Donald Trump's top legislative priority. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan budget watchdog in Washington, on Friday called a Senate Republican tax plan a "fatally flawed budget buster," likening it to Republican legislation in the House of Representatives that the House tax committee has approved.