Tag Archives: United States

U.S. adds to forces in Syria to expedite IS defeat in Raqqa: coalition

A U.S. fighter walks down a ladder from a barricade, north of Raqqa city, Syria, November 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said

By Tom Perry

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A U.S. Marines artillery unit has deployed to Syria in recent days to help local forces speed up efforts to defeat Islamic State at Raqqa and the campaign to isolate the city is going “very, very well”, the U.S.-led coalition said on Thursday.

Coalition spokesman U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian said the additional U.S. forces would be working with local partners in Syria – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Arab Coalition – and would not have a front line role.

The additional deployment comprises a total of 400 U.S. forces – both Marines and Army Rangers. It adds to around 500 U.S. military personnel already in Syria, Dorrian said.

The SDF, which includes the Kurdish YPG militia, is the main U.S. partner in the war against Islamic State insurgents in Syria. Since November it has been working with the U.S.-led coalition to encircle Raqqa, IS’s main urban bastion in Syria.

This week, the SDF cut the road between Raqqa and the jihadists’ stronghold of Deir al-Zor province – the last main road out of the city.

Islamic State is also being fought in Syria by the Russian-backed Syrian military, and by Syrian rebel groups fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner with Turkish backing in northern Syria and Jordanian backing in southern Syria.

Dorrian said the effort to isolate Raqqa was “going very very well” and could be completed in a few weeks. “Then the decision to move in can be made,” he said.

The additional forces had arrived in “the last few days”, he told Reuters by telephone.

The artillery will help “expedite the defeat of ISIS in Raqqa”, he said, using another acronym for Islamic State. The Marines were armed with 155-millimetre artillery guns. Asked if they had been used yet, Dorrian said he did not believe so.

“We have had what I would describe as a pretty relentless air campaign to destroy enemy capabilities and to kill enemy fighters in that area already. That is something that we are going to continue and intensify with this new capability.”

“We are talking about an additional 400 or so forces in total, and they will be there for a temporary period,” he said.

A Kurdish military source told Reuters the extra U.S. forces were deployed as part of a joint plan between the SDF and U.S.-led coalition to capture Raqqa, and further U.S. reinforcements were expected to arrive in the coming few days.

Dorrian said the Army Rangers were on a different mission to the Marines in a previously announced deployment near the city of Manbij to “create some reassurance” for U.S.-allied Turkey and U.S. partners in Syria – a reference to the SDF.

Turkey views the YPG as a threat to its national security and says the Kurdish militia maintains a presence in Manbij. The YPG denies this. Fearing deepening Kurdish influence in northern Syria, Turkey has been pressing Washington for a role in the final assault on Raqqa.

Dorrian said a possible role for Turkey “remains a point of discussion at military leadership and diplomatic levels”.

“We have always said we are open to a role for Turkey in the liberation of Raqqa and will continue that discussion to whatever logical end there is.”

(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Republican healthcare plan clears first hurdle as concerns loom

A copy of Obamacare repeal and replace recommendations (L) produced by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives sit next to a copy of the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republicans cleared the first hurdle in their plan for the massive healthcare system overhaul backed by President Donald Trump, despite concerns among Democratic lawmakers, hospitals and insurers about its unknown costs and impact on coverage.

The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee approved the bill along party lines on Thursday morning after debating the draft legislation for nearly 18 hours.

The chamber’s Energy and Commerce committee continued its own marathon session after Republican leaders earlier this week unveiled the plan, which would undo much of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Republicans, who control the House and the Senate, are eyeing mid-April for passage of the bill.

“This is an historic step, an important step in the repeal of Obamacare,” said Republican Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee after it voted 23-16 for the measure.

The legislation would end the financial penalty for not owning health insurance, reverse most Obamacare taxes, introduce a smaller system of tax credits based on age rather than income, and overhaul Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor.

The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and other hospital groups have come out against the bill. The proposed changes to Medicaid have weighed on shares of hospitals, particularly Community Health Systems and Tenet Healthcare Corp, as investors worry about less government reimbursement.

Obamacare also enabled 20 million previously uninsured people to obtain coverage. About half came from a Medicaid expansion that the new bill would end.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents Anthem Inc and other insurers, said tax credits for the individual insurance market did not go far enough.

The House Ways and Means committee, which was looking at the tax-related provisions of the bill, made no changes, despite dozens of attempts by Democrats to introduce amendments.

The fast-emerging disorder around the bill, Trump’s first legislative test, follows the chaos triggered by his travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority nations that was later revised.

Trump and fellow Republicans campaigned last year on a pledge to dismantle Obamacare, the signature domestic policy achievement of Democratic former president Barack Obama. They have called it government overreach that had ruined the more than $3 trillion U.S. healthcare system.

RESISTANCE

But Republican lawmakers face resistance from conservatives within their own ranks who say the bill, which would create a system of tax credits to coax people to buy private insurance on the open market, is not radical enough.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has tried to allay those concerns, saying the bill is part of a three-phase plan. But he told Fox News: “The message might not have been absolutely piercing to folks.”

In a series of tweets early on Thursday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton urged his House colleagues to pull back, saying their measure could not pass the Senate without major changes. “What matters in long run is better, more affordable health care for Americans, NOT House leaders’ arbitrary legislative calendar,” he wrote.

Representative Steve King said on CNN that his fellow Republicans must act now. “If nothing gets done here in this Congress, we are stuck with Obamacare,” he said.

Democrats denounce the bill as a gift to the rich and say informed debate on it is impossible without knowing its cost.

“The millionaires and billionaires, they’re going to do just great,” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Budget Committee told MSNBC. But for working Americans, “this makes that squeeze much tighter and provides windfall tax breaks to the wealthy.”

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi cited the lack of analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “This is decision-making without the facts,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

Republicans said they had asked the CBO to provide a preliminary estimate of the cost of the bill and expect to have that analysis by the time it hits the House floor.

“CONSTRUCTIVE IMPROVEMENTS”

Dan Holler, spokesman for the powerful conservative group Heritage Action, also sought more information. “Americans deserve full transparency, which includes the full budget score,” he said.

But some Republicans have cast doubt on the accuracy of CBO estimates, suggesting the agency’s initial assessment of the cost of Obamacare had proved far wide of the mark.

“If you’re looking at the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with leaders of conservative groups who have concerns about the bill on Wednesday. A White House official later said they were open to “constructive improvements.”

Once the two committees have approved their parts of the legislation, both will go to the House Budget Committee, which is expected to merge them into one bill that will then be voted on by the full chamber.

House Speaker Paul Ryan wants that vote to happen this month so the bill can move to the Senate for consideration.

Medicaid Chief Medical Officer Andrey Ostrovsky said on Twitter that he was aligned with experts who oppose the bill, breaking with the administration.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan, Brendan O’Brien, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

U.S. import prices moderate on cheap fuel

A woman pumps gas at a station in Falls Church, Virginia December 16, 2014. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) – U.S. import price increases slowed in February on cheap fuel, but there were signs of a pickup in underlying imported inflation.

The Labor Department said on Thursday import prices rose 0.2 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in January. It was the third straight monthly increase.

In the 12 months through February, import prices accelerated 4.6 percent, the largest gain since February 2012, after rising 3.8 percent in January.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices ticking up 0.1 percent last month after a previously reported 0.4 percent increase in January.

Last month’s moderation in import prices is likely to be temporary amid strengthening global demand that is lifting prices for oil and other commodities.

Prices for imported fuels fell 0.7 percent last month after surging 7.2 percent in January. Import prices excluding fuels rose 0.3 percent. That was the first increase since July and followed a 0.1 percent dip the prior month.

The cost of imported food jumped 1.0 percent last month. Prices for imported capital goods were unchanged after slipping 0.1 percent in January. Imported consumer goods prices excluding automobiles increased 0.2 percent last month after a similar gain in January.

The report also showed export prices increased 0.3 percent in February after gaining 0.2 percent in January. Export prices were up 3.1 percent from a year ago. That was the biggest increase since December 2011 and followed a 2.4 percent rise in January.

Prices for agricultural exports increased 1.4 percent last month, boosted by rising vegetable prices, as well as higher prices for soybeans and corn. Agricultural export prices rose 0.1 percent in January.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

U.S. weekly jobless claims rise; layoffs fall in February

Hundreds of job seekers wait in line with their resumes to talk to recruiters at the Colorado Hospital Association health care career fair in Denver April 9, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week rebounded from a near 44-year low, but the labor market continues to tighten amid a sharp drop in job cuts in February.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for the week ended March 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised at 223,000, the lowest level since March 1973.

It was the 105th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market.

That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims for unemployment benefits rising to 235,000 in the latest week. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 2,250 to 236,500 last week.

In a separate report, global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S.-based employers announced 36,957 job cuts in February, down 19 percent from January. The retail sector continued to dominate layoffs last month as it shifts toward online and scales back on brick-and-mortar operations.

JC Penney <JCP.N> topped the list, announcing 5,500 job cuts as a result of 140 store closures.

U.S. Treasuries were little changed on the data. The dollar fell to a session low against a basket of currencies as the European Central Bank pledged to keep its aggressive stimulus policy at least until the end of the year.

NEAR FULL EMPLOYMENT

The labor market is at or close to full employment, with employers increasingly reporting difficulties finding qualified workers for open job positions. Labor market tightness together with firming inflation could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as early as next week.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen signaled last week that the U.S. central bank would likely raise rates at its March 14-15 policy meeting. The Fed raised its benchmark overnight rate in December and has forecast three rate increases for 2017.

The labor market strength comes despite the economy showing signs of fatigue early in the first quarter. Data on trade, consumer, business and construction spending were soft in January, leaving the Atlanta Fed forecasting GDP increasing at a 1.2 percent rate in the first quarter.

The economy grew at a 1.9 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter, slowing from the third quarter’s brisk 3.5 percent pace.

The claims report has no bearing on February’s employment report, which is scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period. First-time applications for jobless benefits declined in February, suggesting another month of strong employment growth.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 190,000 jobs last month after surging 227,000 in January. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent.

But payrolls could surprise on the upside after a report on Wednesday showed private sector employers hired 298,000 workers in February, the largest amount in a year.

In another report on Thursday, the Labor Department said import prices rose 0.2 percent last month after advancing 0.6 percent in January. It was the third straight monthly increase.

In the 12 months through February, import prices accelerated 4.6 percent, the largest gain since February 2012, after rising 3.8 percent in January.

Import prices excluding fuels rose 0.3 percent, the first increase since July, after slipping 0.1 percent in January.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Women worldwide rally for equality, and against Trump in U.S.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to supporters during the 'Day Without a Woman' on International Women's Day at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Joseph Ax and Lisa Fernandez

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Women protested around the world on Wednesday for equal rights and in the United States against President Donald Trump, with many Americans skipping work or boycotting stores to demand economic fairness on International Women’s Day.

American women seized upon the momentum of the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration, once again denouncing his policies on abortion and healthcare.

Dubbed “A Day Without a Woman” in the United States, the nationwide events were modeled in part after pro-immigrant demonstrations on Feb. 16, the latest in a series of anti-Trump protests since his Nov. 8 election.

By having women, who make up 47 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force, flex their economic muscle, organizers hope to call attention to the gender pay gap, access to reproductive health services, and Trump’s actions that have restricted abortion overseas.

Debra Sands, 37, a middle school teacher, joined thousands of women at New York City’s Central Park after her students convinced her to attend.

“This past year’s election made me realize that voting in November isn’t enough,” Sands said.

New York police reported 13 arrests at the protest in midtown Manhattan. Details on the possible charges were not immediately available.

In San Francisco, where about 1,500 people gathered, Christine Bussenius, 37, said she and her female colleagues at Grey Advertising convinced their all-male managers to give them the day off and participate in the rally.

“We were nervous,” she admitted. “But the men stepped up to fill in the void.”

Rallies were held in numerous U.S. cities, including Washington, where demonstrators gathered at the U.S. Labor Department.

Female staffers at Fusion Media Group’s Gizmodo declared they were striking for the day.

At least three U.S. school districts, in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, closed because of staff shortages after teachers requested the day off.

Nearly 1,000 women converged outside Los Angeles City Hall, many of them critical of the Republican-backed healthcare bill that would strip women’s health and abortion provider Planned Parenthood of funding.

“It’s terrifying. It’s anti-woman,” said Kassia Krozsur, 53, a finance professional.

About 200 gathered in Atlanta, where signs read “We are sisters” and “Stop Trump.”

“If we want to change what is going on, we need to turn anger into action. People need to run for local office,” organizer Rebekah Joy said.

An activist attends a demonstration outside the White House as part of "A Day Without a Woman" strike on International Women's Day in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

An activist attends a demonstration outside the White House as part of “A Day Without a Woman” strike on International Women’s Day in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

RALLIES AROUND THE WORLD

Events large and small were held in cities around the world.

Across the Texas border, women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, painted crosses on lamp posts in solemn remembrance of the hundreds of women who have gone missing or were murdered there in recent years.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, women performed “Glass Ceiling,” simulating being trapped by the barely visible barrier that stands between women and workplace equality.

They banged drums in Kiev, Ukraine, and played soccer in Nairobi, Kenya. In Sanaa, capital of war-torn Yemen, women dressed in niqabs, the all-black garments that cover the entire body except for an opening over their eyes, held up a sign reading, “You keep silent while our children die!”

Not all American women, however, were on board with the call for a women’s strike, with some critics citing the vagueness of the movement’s aims and the disruption of work stoppages.

Trump, whose 11-year-old comments about grabbing and kissing women against their will surfaced during the campaign, took to his Twitter account early on Wednesday to cite International Women’s Day and the “critical role” of women around the world.

“I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy,” the Republican president tweeted.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Gina Cherelus in New York, Letitia Stein in St. Petersburg, Florida, Ben Gruber in Los Angeles, Rich McKay in Atlanta, and Lisa Fernandez in San Francisco; Writing by Peter Szekely; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Diane Craft)

China rails against U.S. for human rights violations

FILE PHOTO: A U.S. flag is tweaked ahead of a news conference between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool

BEIJING (Reuters) – China lashed out at the United States for its “terrible human rights problems” in a report on Thursday, adding to recent international criticism of Washington on issues ranging from violence inflicted on minorities to U.S. immigration policies.

The U.S. State Department’s annual report on rights in nearly 200 countries last week accused China of torture, executions without due process, repression of political rights and persecution of ethnic minorities, among other issues.

In an annual Chinese response to the U.S. report, China’s State Council, or cabinet, said the United States suffered from rampant gun violence and high levels of incarceration.

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria had caused thousands of civilian deaths, according to the report, which was carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

“With the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics, the self-proclaimed human rights defender has exposed its human rights ‘myth’ with its own deeds,” the State Council said.

“The United States repeatedly trampled on human rights in other countries and wilfully slaughtered innocent victims,” it said, referring to deaths in U.S. drone strikes.

On Wednesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about migrants, Mexicans and Muslims were “harmful and fuel xenophobic abuses” and that his immigration policies could lead to breaches of international law.

Trump’s derogatory campaign rhetoric against Muslims and Mexican immigrants won enthusiastic backing from prominent white supremacists who embrace anti-Jewish, anti-black and anti-Muslim ideologies, though the president has disavowed their support.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China rejects criticism of its rights record and has pointed to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.

But the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and President Xi Jinping’s administration has seen a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers and activists.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

New bomb threats made against Jewish centers across U.S., Canada

A firefighter rolls up a hose after a threat made to the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre was deemed a hoax in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A new round of bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the United States and in Canada forced lockdowns and evacuations on Tuesday, and all 100 U.S. senators asked the federal government to help them enhance security.

Threats were phoned in or emailed to JCCs in states including New York, Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida overnight and early on Tuesday. Centers in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario also said they were threatened.

U.S. federal authorities have been investigating a surge of threats against Jewish organizations, including more than 100 hoax bomb threats in five separate waves in January and February against JCCs in dozens of states.

The Trump Administration denounced the newest round of threats “in the strongest terms,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing.

“As long as they do continue, we’ll continue to condemn them and look at ways in which we can stop them,” Spicer said.

Tuesday’s incidents appeared unconnected to the majority of previous threats, according to the Secure Community Network, which provides security expertise to Jewish groups.

A letter signed by all 100 U.S. senators was sent on Tuesday to top U.S. law enforcement officials asking that they help Jewish groups enhance security.

“We are concerned that the number of incidents is accelerating and failure to address and deter these threats will place innocent people at risk and threaten the financial viability of JCCs,” the letter said.

One arrest was made last week, when a former journalist was charged in St. Louis with using fake email accounts to threaten to bomb Jewish sites while posing as his ex-girlfriend. But he is not believed to be responsible for the majority of threats.

Threats came in to Jewish centers and day schools on Tuesday in cities including Chicago, Milwaukee and the greater Rochester area in upstate New York.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, also said it received bomb threats at four of its locations.

In addition to violent threats, some Jewish organizations received harassing phone calls. At the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn, police said, an anonymous caller threatened to spray the center’s synagogue with pig’s blood.

“We’ve never seen such a period of concentrated threats against the Jewish community,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference. “The last few weeks are more troubling than anything I’ve seen in many, many years.”

(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler and Jonathan Oatis)

Women in U.S. plan to stay off the job, rally in anti-Trump protests

People listen to speakers in the rain at a rally for International Women's Day in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 5, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Peter A Szekely

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Women in the United States plan to use International Women’s Day on Wednesday to stay off the job and stage demonstrations across the country in an effort to seize on the momentum built from the massive marches held a day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

On “A Day Without a Woman,” those who are able to do so will stay away from work or school, much as immigrants did on Feb. 16 to protest Trump’s immigration policies.

All are part of the series of anti-Trump demonstrations that have taken place since the day after his Nov. 8 election.

Objectives of Wednesday’s events include calling attention to the gender pay gap in which women trail men, and deregulating reproductive rights.

“For years and years, March 8 has been International Women’s Day, and it has been a happy, happy day, which is fine,” said Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. “But the political climate that we find ourselves in right now requires us to have political power.”

Demonstrations will target a Trump “gag order” that bars foreign health providers receiving U.S. funds from raising abortion as an option, O’Neill said.

Early Wednesday morning, Trump urged others via his personal Twitter account to join him in honoring the critical role of women in America and around the world.

“I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy,” the Republican president wrote (@realDonaldTrump).

Trump has been heavily criticized for his inflammatory comments when discussing women, including his boast in a 2005 video about grabbing women by the genitals, and referring to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman” during a presidential debate.

American women on average earn 79 cents for every $1 that men make, and African-American and Latina women make even less, O’Neill said. Since women account for two-thirds of all minimum wage workers, lifting the hourly wage would significantly narrow the pay gap, she said.

The minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 at the federal level since 2009, although it is higher in many states.

Organizers are attempting to repeat tactics from the Jan. 21 women’s march on Washington and other cities that came together largely through social media.

Women make up 47 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force. If all of them stayed out of work for the day, it would knock almost $21 billion of the country’s gross domestic product, the liberal leaning Center for American Progress estimated.

Organizers, however, realize that many women lack the motivation or cannot afford to take a day off and are urging women to limit their shopping to female-owned businesses or to wear red.

Several schools, including at least two sizeable school districts in Virginia and North Carolina, have canceled classes because a large number of teachers requested the day off.

Rallies are planned in cities across the country, including Washington, New York, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, Florida, Chicago, San Francisco and Berkeley, California.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Lisa Shumaker)

House panels to launch fight in Congress over Obamacare replacement

(L-R)U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, and U.S. Representative Greg Walden hold a news conference on the American Health Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A potentially lengthy U.S. legislative fight over replacement of the Obamacare health law gets underway on Wednesday as two House of Representatives committees begin negotiating over changes to a Republican plan backed by President Donald Trump.

Both Democrats and Republicans are expected to try to reshape legislation that dismantles key provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

The Republican plan unveiled on Monday would scrap Obamacare’s requirement that most Americans obtain medical insurance and replace its income-based subsides with a system of fixed tax credits of $2,000 to $4,000 to coax people to purchase private insurance on the open market.

The plan faces significant hurdles in Congress. Conservative Republican lawmakers and lobbying groups slammed it for looking too much like the Obamacare program they have been trying to kill for years. Democrats criticized it as rolling back health insurance coverage gains for millions of Americans while benefiting the rich by repealing healthcare-related taxes.

Meanwhile, insurers questioned the assumptions underlying Republicans’ claims that the plan will reduce premiums, while some experts said it would encourage younger, healthier people to forgo coverage.

On Wednesday, The House Ways and Means Committee, with jurisdiction over taxes, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees health issues, will each pursue separate “mark-up” sessions to consider amendments to the plan.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has pledged that he will deliver a 218-vote majority needed for passage in the House. But further changes could be made in the Senate, where Republicans can only afford to lose two votes from their thin majority in the face of unified opposition from Democrats.

Conservative Republican Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday declared the plan “dead on arrival” in broadcast interviews and said he wanted a repeal-only option.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady told Fox News Channel late on Tuesday that he would “listen to good ideas to improve it” but said the plan achieves the party’s goals.

“It repeals all the taxes, all the mandates, all the penalties, all the subsidies. This is Obamacare gone and there’s no arguing about that,” Brady said.

But he also said that much of the bill’s fate was in the Senate’s hands and he was “counting on” Senate Republicans to support it without major changes.

Trump, who praised the Republican healthcare plan but said it was “out for review and negotiation,” plans to meet conservative congressional leaders to discuss it on Wednesday, according to a schedule released by the White House.

In an evening Twitter message, Trump said he was “sure” that Senator Paul would “come along with the new and great healthcare program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster!”

(Corrects to say Monday, not Tuesday, in third paragraph.)

(Writing by David Lawder; Editing by Nick Tattersall, Robert Birsel)

U.S. ship changed course toward Iranians on Saturday: Iran commander

File photo: U.S. sailors in a rigid-hull inflatable boat approach the Military Sealift Command missile range instrumentation ship USNS Invincible (L) to conduct a personnel transfer in Arabian Sea on November 21, 2012. Courtesy Deven B. King/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A U.S. Navy ship changed course toward Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a guard commander was quoted as saying on Wednesday while issuing a warning.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Monday that multiple fast-attack vessels from the Revolutionary Guard had come within 600 yards (550 meters) of the USNS Invincible, a tracking ship, forcing it to change direction.

But guard commander Mehdi Hashemi said the incident, the first of note between the countries’ navies in those waters since January, was the fault of the U.S. ship, telling the Fars news agency: “The unprofessional actions of the Americans can have irreversible consequences,”

Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran last year after a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But major differences remain over Iran’s ballistic missile program and conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, without referring to the Hormuz incident, also gave a warning on Wednesday.

“If Iran’s ignorant enemies think about invading Iran they should know that our armed forces are much stronger than 1980 when Iraq attacked,” he said in a speech broadcast live on state TV.

While still a U.S. presidential candidate in September, Donald Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harassed the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of the water.”

Trump’s administration said on Tuesday it would show “great strictness” over restrictions on Iran’s activities under the nuclear deal with major powers, but gave little indication of what that might mean.

The last serious naval incident was in January when a U.S. destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels near the Strait after they closed in at high speed and disregarded repeated requests to slow down.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in Washington on Monday that dangerous interactions were of concern because they could lead to a “miscalculation or an accidental provocation.”

“We actually had seen quite an improvement in Iran’s behavior until recently,” he said.

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai; editing by John Stonestreet)