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Senate unanimously calls on Trump administration to take action against threats to Jewish centers

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday called on the Trump administration to take a more aggressive approach to counter the growing number of anonymous bomb threats against Jewish organizations across the country.
All 100 senators said in a letter addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly that the incidents are becoming more frequent and failure to take swift action places innocent people at risk.
“We write to underscore the need for swift action with regard to the deeply troubling series of anonymous bomb threats made against Jewish Community Centers (JCCs), Jewish day schools, synagogues and other buildings affiliated with Jewish organizations or institutions across the country,” the senators wrote.
The letter came as the Anti-Defamation League and several Jewish community centers across the U.S. received a new round of bomb threats, adding to the scores that have been plagued with since January.
Federal authorities have been investigating more than 120 threats against Jewish organizations in three dozen states since Jan. 9 as well as a wave of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. Over the course of Monday evening and Tuesday, there were eight emailed or phoned-in bomb threats in six states plus Ontario, the JCC Association of North America said.
Bomb threats were made to Jewish centers in upstate New York, Wisconsin, Oregon, a synagogue in Rhode Island and a school in Illinois. The Anti-Defamation League received threats to its offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston and Washington D.C., as well as other offices in Florida and Maryland.
On Friday, Missouri resident Juan Thompson was arrested on a cyberstalking charge and accused of making at least eight of the threats nationwide, including one to the ADL. Authorities said Thompson was trying to harass and frame his ex-girlfriend by pinning the threats on her.

HHS Secretary Price: GOP ObamaCare replacement bill 'a work in progress'

Secretary Tom Price: Health bill is a work in progress

Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price told Fox News' "Hannity" Tuesday night that House Republicans' bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare was the first step of a three-part process to implement the long-promised GOP tonic for the Affordable Care Act's ills.
"This is a work in progress and continues to be so," Price told host Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview. "Let me make clear to people that this single bill is not the entire plan."
Price claimed that passage of the bill introduced Monday would be followed by doing away with ObamaCare's rules and regulations "if they hurt patients." A second bill would introduce key reforms pledged by President Trump during his campaign, such as the ability to purchase insurance across state lines and the expansion of health savings accounts (HSAs).
Hours earlier, lawmakers from the right wing of the Republican Party slammed the bill as "ObamaCare by a different form" and vowed to revive a 2015 repeal bill that already passed Congress under former President Barack Obama.
“There’s no reason we should put anything less on President Trump’s desk than we put on President Obama’s,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said.
Price attempted to throw cold water on the so-called "clean repeal" notion, telling Hannity that it was "not a viable proposal."
"The president has said ‘Repeal and replace – we’re going to do them concurrently and move forward’," he said, "and that’s why it’s important for people to recognize the three different phases."
Republican congressional leaders have joined with the Trump administration to defend the plan on the table as a positive starting point.
"We're going to do something that's great and I'm proud to support the replacement plan released by the House of Representatives," Trump declared at the White House as he met with the House GOP vote-counting team Tuesday. "We're going to take action. There's going to be no slowing down. There's going to be no waiting and no more excuses by anybody."
At the White House meeting Tuesday, Trump made clear to House Republicans that he would be personally engaging with individual members who oppose the bill as leadership tries to round up votes, according to a lawmaker present who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private gathering.
Not long after, Trump appeared to be making good on his promise, tweeting at Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has criticized the bill.
The president plans to reconvene the group next week and will meet with conservative leaders to discuss the issue Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence told GOP lawmakers at the Capitol this was their chance to scuttle Obama's law, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell forecast congressional passage by early April.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at a late-afternoon press conference, said the package “keeps our promise” to replace ObamaCare. He predicted the legislation, by the end of the process, would attract a majority in the House.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also stressed that the bill would go through “regular order,” allowing lawmakers to make amendments.
“We’re not jamming this down anybody’s throat,” he said, during a press briefing where he stacked copies of the original law and Republicans’ proposal side-by-side to demonstrate how much smaller – and presumably simpler – the GOP plan is.
But major obstacles loom, as one conservative group after another released statements torching the plan. The Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America, Americans for Prosperity and Tea Party Patriots variously derided the new bill as Obamacare Lite, Obamacare 2.0 and even RyanCare.
Notes of caution also came from GOP governors, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich arguing that phasing out expanded Medicaid coverage without a viable alternative is "counterproductive" and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner saying he was "very concerned" that people will be "left in the lurch" under the House GOP plan.
Republicans’ new legislation would repeal a range of the original ObamaCare taxes and subsidies, while preserving certain patient protections. But conservatives pushed back on various aspects of the plan, including a new system of tax credits that would replace the existing subsidies; a short-term continuation of the Medicaid expansion; and a new surcharge insurance companies would be allowed to impose for coverage that lapses.
Tuesday night, Price tried to answer criticism from conservatives who claimed that the proposed tax credit system amounted to an unaffordable new entitlement.
"If you get your coverage through your employer, which is about 175 million people in this country, you get a tax benefit because that’s paid with pre-tax dollars," Price said. "The individuals that are out there in the individual small group market, they don’t have any tax benefit. We’re trying to equalize the tax treatment of health coverage for folks."

Conservatives also have questions about what the plan will do for health care costs.
Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina said Tuesday the fiscal impact of the replacement plan will scored in the coming days, but “there is only one score that the American people will pay attention to – whether it really does lower the cost of their health care.”
Jordan said their plan differs from the new proposal in that it does not keep the Medicaid expansion and does not keep some of the original law’s tax increases.
Paul argued only a full repeal will garner the unified support of Republicans.
“Opposition to ObamaCare helped the GOP win the House in 2010, the Senate in 2014, and the White House in 2016,” Paul said.

Sen. Kaine's son arrested at Trump rally in Minnesota

The son of Hillary Clinton's former running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, was one of six arrested Saturday protesting a rally in support of President Trump at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Linwood Michael Kaine, 24, and four others were arrested on suspicion of second-degree riot at the “March 4 Trump” rally in St. Paul. Another person was cited for disorderly conduct, the Duluth News Tribune reported.
Kaine, who lives in Minneapolis, was released from the Ramsey County Jail Tuesday pending a further investigation, authorities said. No charges were filed against him or the four others. The city attorney is reviewing the incident.
Kaine was involved in a skirmish between Trump supporters and counter-protesters, St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said.
Linders said Kaine was seen with four people who lit fireworks in the capitol and fled. Police were investigating whether Kaine lit a firework, the newspaper reported.
Linders said Kaine and the group were arrested a block from the capitol. He said police tracked Kaine and the group down and arresting officers had to use “some force” to take him into custody.
No one from Sen. Kaine’s office contacted the department, he added.
Sen. Kaine, from St. Paul, released a statement to the Pioneer Press Tuesday night.
"We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues," he said. "They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully."

Franken says he thinks Sessions committed perjury

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., on Tuesday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to clarify an answer he gave during his confirmation hearing in January about possible meetings with Russians.
"It’s hard to come to any other conclusion that he just perjured himself,” Franken told CNN, recalling the hearing. “He answered a question that he asked himself, which is, 'Did I meet with any Russians?' And he answered it falsely. He said no, I hadn’t.”
Sessions maintains that his answer to a question from Franken was correct.
Franken had asked Sessions in January what he would do if he learned of evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign had been in touch with the Russian government in the course of the campaign.
TRUMP REPORTEDLY UNHAPPY ABOUT SESSIONS' RECUSAL FROM RUSSIA INVESTIGATIONS
Sessions responded that he himself had not had "communications with the Russians." Sessions said Monday that he answered the question the way he did because Franken had raised allegations of continuing communication between Trump associates and intermediaries for the Russian government.
"I did not mention communications I had had with the Russian ambassador over the years because the question did not ask about them," Sessions wrote.
Sessions clarified his confirmation hearing testimony to acknowledge having spoken twice last year with the Russian ambassador, but he said he stood by his earlier remarks as an honest and correct answer to a question.
The filing amends testimony Sessions gave under oath in January when he said he did not have communication with Russians. Sessions reversed course last week and acknowledged that he actually had spoken with the ambassador once at the Republican National Convention last July and again at a meeting in his Senate office in September in the presence of his Senate staff.
Sessions committed last week to amending his earlier testimony as he agreed to recuse himself from any investigations involving the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the presidential election.
"I do not recall any discussions with the Russian ambassador, or any other representative of the Russian government, regarding the political campaign on these occasions or any other occasion," Sessions wrote in a three-page filing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.