WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Washington has not changed its assessment on China’s timeline for potentially taking Taiwan militarily, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, sticking by previous statements that Beijing would not try to take it in the next two years.
China announced new military drills around Taiwan on Monday, drawing concern from US President Joe Biden, a day after the scheduled end of Beijing’s largest military exercises in the area to protest last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Asked if the Pentagon’s assessment that China would not try to retake Taiwan militarily in the next two years had changed since Pelosi’s trip, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said: “No.”
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“Clearly the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to coerce Taiwan, clearly they’re trying to coerce the international community and all I’ll say is we’re not going to take the bait and it’s not going to work,” Kahl said.
In November, the top US general said China was unlikely to try to militarily seize Taiwan in the next couple of years, even as its military develops capabilities that would enable forcibly retaking the self-ruled island.
Officials have privately said that they do not believe China will even be militarily ready to fully take Taiwan by 2027.
“Clearly what they’re trying to do is salami slice their way into a new status quo,” Kahl said.
Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as by ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington, including on military and climate change issues.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own, was deliberately creating crises. It demanded Beijing “pull back from the edge.”
Kahl said the US military would carry out passages through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.
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Reporting by Idrees Ali and Christopher Gallagher; Editing by Chris Gallagher, John Stonestreet and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Idrees Ali
Thomson Reuters
National security correspondent focusing on the Pentagon in Washington DC Reports on US military activity and operations throughout the world and the impact they have. You have reported from over two dozen countries to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.
WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The US Senate on Sunday passed a sweeping $430 billion bill intended to fight climate change, lower drug prices and raise some corporate taxes, a major victory for President Joe Biden that Democrats hope will aid their chances of keeping control of Congress in this year’s elections.
After a marathon, 27-hour weekend session of debate and Republican efforts to derail the package, the Senate approved the legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act by a 51-50 party line vote Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking ballot.
The action sends the measure to the House of Representatives for a vote expected Friday that could forward it, in turn, to the White House for Biden’s signature. In a statement, Biden urged the House to act as soon as possible and said he looked forward to signing the bill into law.
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“The Senate is making history,” an elated Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, after pumping his fists in the air as cheered Democrats and their staff members responded to the vote with a standing ovation.
“To Americans who’ve lost faith that Congress can do big things, this bill is for you,” he said. “This bill is going to change America for decades.”
Schumer said the legislation contains “the boldest clean energy package in American history” to fight climate change while reducing consumer costs for energy and some medicines.
Democrats have drawn harsh attacks from Republicans over the legislation’s $430 billion in new spending and roughly $740 billion in new revenue. read more
Nevertheless, Democrats hope its passage, ahead of an August recess, will help the party’s House and Senate candidates in the Nov. 8 midterm elections at a time when Biden is suffering from anemic public approval ratings amid high inflation.
The legislation is aimed at reducing carbon emissions and shifting consumers to green energy, while cutting prescription drug costs for the elderly and tightening enforcement on taxes for corporations and the wealthy.
Because the measure pays for itself and reduces the federal deficit over time, Democrats contend that it will help bring down inflation, an economic liability that has also weighed on their hopes of retaining legislative control in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
US Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she speaks to the media about the passing of the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
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Republicans, arguing that the bill will not address inflation, have denounced the measure as a job-killing, left-wing spending wish list that could undermine growth when the economy is in danger of falling into recession.
Democrats approved the bill by using a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation, which allows budget-related legislation to avoid the 100-seat chamber’s 60-vote threshold for most bills and pass on a simple majority.
After several hours of debate, the Senate began a rapid-fire “vote-a-rama” on Democratic and Republican amendments on Saturday evening that stretched into Sunday afternoon.
Democrats repelled more than 30 Republican amendments, points of order and motions, all intended to scupper the legislation. Any change in the bill’s contents wrought by an amendment could have unraveled the Democrats’ 50-senator coalition needed to keep the legislation on track.
NO CAP ON INSULIN COSTS
But they were unable to muster the votes necessary to retain a provision to cap soaring insulin costs at $35 a month on the private health insurance market, which fell outside the reconciliation rules. Democrats said the legislation would still limit insulin costs for those on Medicare.
In a foreshadowing of the coming fall election campaign, Republicans used their amendment defeats to attack vulnerable Democrats who are seeking reelection in November.
“Democrats vote again to allow chaos on the southern border to continue,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that named Democratic Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Raphael Warnock of Georgia. All four are facing tight contests for reelection.
The bill was more than 18 months in the making as Biden’s original sweeping Build Back Better plan was whittled down in the face of opposition from Republicans and key legislators from his own party.
“It required many compromises. Doing important things almost always does,” Biden said in a statement.
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Reporting by Richard Cowan, Rose Horowitch, David Morgan and Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone, Mary Milliken, Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman
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WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – The US Senate on Saturday began debating a Democratic bill to address key elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda – tackling climate change, lowering the costs of medication for the elderly and energy, while forcing corporations and the wealthy to pay more taxes.
The debate began after the Senate voted 51-50 to move ahead with the legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie vote, with all 50 Republicans in opposition.
The Senate was set to debate the bill for up to 20 hours before diving into an arduous, time-consuming amendment process called a “vote-a-rama.”
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Democrats and Republicans were poised to reject each other’s amendments, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer maneuvered to keep a his 50-member caucus united behind a bill that was negotiated over several months. If even one Democrat were to peel off, the entire effort would be doomed in the evenly split 50-50 Senate. read more
Earlier in the day, the Senate parliamentarian determined that the lion’s share of the healthcare provisions in the $430 billion bill could be passed with only a simple majority, bypassing a filibuster rule requiring 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to advance most legislation and enabling Democrats to pass it over Republican objections.
Democrats hope that the legislation will give a boost to their candidates in the Nov. 8 midterm elections in which Biden’s party is in an uphill battle to retain its narrow control of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Democrats cast the legislation as a vehicle to combat inflation, a prime concern of US voters this year.
“The bill, when passed, will meet all of our goals: fighting climate change, lowering healthcare costs, closing tax loopholes abused by the wealthy and reducing the deficit,” Schumer said in a Senate speech.
There are three main parts to the bill’s tax provisions: a 15% minimum tax on corporations and the closing of loopholes that the wealthy can use to avoid paying taxes; tougher IRS enforcement; and a new excise tax on stock buybacks.
The legislation has $430 billion in new spending along with raising more than $740 billion in new revenues. read more
Democrats have said the legislation by 2030 would result in a 40% reduction in US carbon emissions, blamed for climate change.
‘PRICE-FIXING’
The measure would also allow the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly to begin negotiating in 2026 with the pharmaceutical industry over prices on a limited number of prescription drug prices as a way of reducing costs. It also would place a $2,000-per-year cap on out-of-pocket medication costs under a Medicare drug program.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell attacked the provision involving negotiating drug prices, comparing it to past “price-fixing” attempts by countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and the former Soviet Union.
“Their policy would bring about a world where many fewer new drugs and treatments get invented in the first place as companies cut back on R&D,” McConnell said in a floor speech, referring to research and development.
While senators debated the policies embedded in the bill, its political ramifications were also on display.
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, former President Donald Trump predicted fallout for Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, two key Democratic senators: “If this deal passes, they are both going to lose their next elections.”
But Manchin and Sinema are not up for re-election until 2024 and many of the provisions of the bill are popular with voters.
The legislation is a scaled-down version of a far broader, more expensive measure that many Democrats on the party’s left had hoped to approve last year. That measure stalled when Manchin, a centrist, balked, complaining that it would exacerbate inflationary pressures.
The bill calls for billions of dollars to encourage the production of more electric vehicles and foster clean energy, though automakers say sourcing rules will sharply limit how many electric vehicles qualify for tax credits.
It would also set $4 billion in new federal drought relief funds, a provision that could help the re-election campaigns of Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Mark Kelly in Arizona.
One provision cut from the bill would have forced drug companies to refund money to both government and private health plans if drug prices rise more quickly than inflation.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a leading progressive, has criticized the bill for failing to go far enough and said he planned to offer amendments that would revive a series of social programs he pushed last year, including broadening the number of prescription drugs Medicare could negotiate prices on and providing government-subsidized dental, vision and hearing aid.
His amendments were expected to fail.
Republicans have signaled that they will offer amendments touching on other issues, including controlling immigrants coming across the US border with Mexico and enhancing policing to curtail rising crime rates in American cities since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Reporting by Richard Cowan and Makini Brice; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, David Shepardson and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker
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Aug 5 (Reuters) – Scientists say that climate change is increasing the likelihood of lightning strikes across the United States, after lightning struck at a square near the White House, leaving three people dead and one other in critical condition.
The hot, humid conditions in Washington, DC, on Thursday were primed for electricity. Air temperatures topped out at 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) – or 5F (3C) higher than the 30-year normal maximum temperature for Aug. 4, according to the National Weather Service.
More heat can draw more moisture into the atmosphere, while also encouraging rapid updraft – two key factors for charged particles, which lead to lightning. A key study released in 2014 in the journal Science warned that the number of lightning strikes could increase by 50% in this century in the United States, with each 1 C (1.8 F) of warming translating into a 12% rise in the number of lightning strikes.
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Fast-warming Alaska has seen a 17% rise in lightning activity since the cooler 1980s. And in typically dry California, a siege of some 14,000 lightning strikes during August 2020 sparked some of the state’s biggest wildfires on record.
Beyond the United States, there is evidence that lightning strikes are also shooting up in India and Brazil.
But even as lightning strikes increase, being hit by one is still extremely rare in the United States, experts say. Roughly 40 million lightning bolts touch down in the country every year, according to the Center for Disease Control – with the odds of being struck less than 1 in a million.
A lightning strike hits a tree in Lafayette Park across from the White House, killing two people and injuring two others below, during an August 4 evening thunderstom as seen in this framegrab from a Reuters TV video camera mounted on a nearby rooftop in Washington, US August 4, 2022. REUTERS/REUTERS TV
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Among those who are hit, about 90% survive the order, the CDC says. The country counted 444 deaths from lightning strikes from 2006 through 2021.
The two men and two women struck by lightning on Thursday while visiting Washington’s Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, were among the unlucky few – struck by a bolt that hit the ground during a violent, afternoon thunderstorm.
The lightning hit near a tree that stands yards (meters) away from the fence that surrounds the presidential residence and offices across from the square, which is often crowded with visitors, especially in the summer months.
All four victims sustained critical, life-threatening injuries, and were taken to area hospitals. read more Two of them later died: James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, from Janesville, Wisconsin, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives.”
Later on Friday a third victim, a 29-year-old male, was pronounced dead, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Further details on the victim were being held until the next-of-kin were notified.
Because heat and moisture are often needed to make lightning, most strikes happen in the summer. In the United States, the populous, subtropical state of Florida sees the most people killed by lightning.
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Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; Additional reporting by Frank McGurty in New York and Chris Gallagher in Washington; Editing by Louise Heavens, Mark Porter & Shri Navaratnam
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Aug 1 (Reuters) – Floods unleashed by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky have killed at least 37 people, including four children, Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday while warning that more dangerous weather is approaching the region.
Beshear on Monday morning confirmed 30 deaths, followed by five more in an afternoon briefing, when he said there would be yet more to come. Hours later he confirmed on Twitter there had been two more deaths.
Authorities continued to work to rescue residents and provide food and shelter for thousands who had been displaced. Efforts have been hampered by weather conditions, officials say.
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Many residents had been unprepared for heavy downfall overnight, leading to more deaths, Beshear said. For people remaining in Eastern Kentucky, he advised seeking higher ground ahead of evening storms.
“It is a continuing natural disaster. We are still searching for people,” Beshear said in a CNN interview. “A large amount of grief throughout Kentucky.”
The National Weather Service forecast several rounds of continuing showers and storms through Tuesday.
Beshear, who declared a state emergency last week, said over the weekend that authorities would likely “be finding bodies for weeks” as teams fanned out to more remote areas.
Days of heavy rainfall – described by Beshear as some of the worst in the state’s history – caused some homes in the hardest-hit areas to be swept away. Video clips posted online showed rescue teams guiding motor boats through residential and commercial areas searching for victims. read more
The Wolfe County Search and Rescue Team on Sunday published footage on Facebook of a helicopter lifting an 83-year-old woman from the roof of a home almost completely submerged. This was part of a five-person rescue.
A flooded area is flown over by a Kentucky National Guard helicopter deployed in response to a declared state of emergency in eastern Kentucky, US July 27, 2022. US Army National Guard/Handout via REUTERS
At least 16 deaths were reported in Knott County alone. The bodies of four children, between ages 18 months and eight years, were recovered Friday afternoon. A fast current had swept them out of their parent’s grip, a family member told the Lexington Herald Leader.
“The mother and father was stranded in the tree for 8 hours before anyone got there to help,” Brittany Trejo said.
Also among the dead in Knott County was Eva Nicole “Nikki” Slone, a 50-year-old who ventured out on Thursday to check on an elderly friend, according to her daughter.
Slone’s body was recovered the next day near home.
“My mom was a very caring woman,” Misty Franklin told the newspaper.
The floods were the second major disaster to strike Kentucky in seven months, following a swarm of tornadoes that claimed nearly 80 lives in the western part of the state in December. read more
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Kentucky on Friday, allowing federal funding to be allocated to the state.
Power lines were widely damaged, with more than 8,000 households remaining without power on Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US. But that was down from 15,000 on Monday morning.
Among the various charitable efforts springing up to help flood victims is one by the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team.
The team, one of the most decorated in college sports, said it would open practice for a telethon for Kentucky Flood Relief Tuesday evening.
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Tyler Clifford in New York; Editing by Mark Potter, Aurora Ellis and Bradley Perrett
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July 31 (Reuters) – Floods unleashed by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky have killed at least 28 people, including four children, Governor Andy Beshear said on Sunday as authorities worked to provide food and shelter for thousands of displaced residents.
Some homes in the hardest hit areas were swept away after days of heavy rainfall that Beshear has described as some of the worst in the US state’s history. Rescue teams guided motor boats through residential and commercial areas searching for victims.
“Everything is gone. Like, everything is gone. The whole office is gone,” one of the flood’s victims, Rachel Patton, told WCHS TV. Around her, houses were half-submerged in water.
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“We had to swim out, and it was cold. It was over my head, so yeah. It was scary.”
Officials warn the death toll may continue to rise with more expected rainfall potentially hampering rescue efforts. The National Weather Service forecasts several rounds of showers and storms through Tuesday, with a flood watch in effect through Monday morning in southern and eastern Kentucky.
Kentucky National Guard helicopter crew members carry a victim of flooding, during their deployment in response to a declared state of emergency in eastern Kentucky, US July 27, 2022. US Army National Guard/Handout via REUTERS
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“We are still focused on meeting the immediate needs of providing food, water and shelter for thousands of our fellow Kentuckians who have been displaced by this catastrophic flood,” Beshear said in a statement.
Beshear, who declared a state emergency over the floods, earlier told NBC that authorities will “be finding bodies for weeks” as rescuers fan out to more remote areas.
The floods were the second major national disaster to strike Kentucky in seven months, following a swarm of tornadoes that claimed nearly 80 lives in the western part of the state in December. read more
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Kentucky on Friday, allowing federal funding to be allocated to the state. Beshear’s office said that affected residents could begin applying for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Power lines were widely damaged, with over 14,000 reports of outages on Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US.
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler
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