Page 7 - 4-17-15 Friday's Edition

Presidential News
President Obama Removes Cuba From Terrorists List
President Obama and the president of Cuba, Raul Castro talked last weekend.
Senate Committee
President Warns Iran That Its Fighters Must Answer To Baghdad
President Barack Obama (R) answers a reporter's question after a bilateral meeting with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (L) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington April 14, 2015.
President Barack Obama
will remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House announced Tues- day, a key step in his bid to nor- malize relations between the two countries.
The terror designation has been a stain on Cuba's pride and a major stumbling block for ef- forts to mend ties between Wash- ington and Havana.
In a message to Congress, Pres. Obama said the govern- ment of Cuba "has not provided
any support for international ter- rorism" over the last six months. He also told lawmakers that Cuba "has provided assurances that it will not support acts of in- ternational terrorism in the fu- ture."
Cuba will officially be removed from the terror list 45 days after the President's message was sent to Congress. Lawmakers could vote to block the move dur- ing that window, though Pres. Obama would be all-but-certain to veto such a measure.
Mr. Kerry left a classified brief- ing with Senators at the Capitol.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved legislation granting Congress a voice in negotiations on the Iran nuclear accord, sending the once- controversial legislation to the full Senate after Pres. Obama with- drew his opposition rather than face a bipartisan rebuke.
Republican opponents of the nuclear agreement on the com- mittee sided with Mr. Obama’s strongest Democratic supporters in demanding a congressional role as international negotiators work to turn this month’s nuclear framework into a final deal by June 30. The bill would mandate that the administration send the text of a final accord, along with classified material, to Congress as soon as it is completed. It also halts any lifting of sanctions dur- ing a congressional review and culminates in a possible vote to allow or forbid the lifting of con- gressionally imposed sanctions in exchange for the dismantling of much of Iran’s nuclear infrastruc- ture. It passed 19 to 0. While Mr. Obama was not “particularly thrilled” with the bill, said Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, the president decided the new proposal put together by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was acceptable.
President Barack Obama
warned Iran on Tuesday that its fighters must respect Iraq's sov- ereignty and answer to the gov- ernment in Baghdad in the battle against Islamic State mil- itants.
Iran-backed Shi'ite militias have played a major and grow- ing role in battling the Sunni Is- lamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot also known as ISIL, that emerged from the chaos in Iraq and neighboring Syria and which swept through northern Iraq last June.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has had to rely on Shi'ite militias, some of which are backed by Iran and advised by Iranian military offi-
cers, as Iraq's regular military deserted en masse last summer in the face of the Islamic State onslaught.
President Obama said he and Abadi discussed the issue at length in their Oval Office meeting on Tuesday.
Asked about Iranian involve- ment in Iraq, the President said that he expected the neigh- bors to have an "important rela- tionship," and recognized that the mobilization of Shi'ite mili- tias had been necessary to counter ISIL's advance last year.
But he added that any for- eign-backed groups in Iraq should now be under Abadi's control.
Cong. Boehner Wants U. S. Troops To Do More In Iraq
Passes Bill On Iran Nuclear Deal; President Says He Will Sign It
U. S. troops in Iraq should be doing more than training and advising Iraqi soldiers in the fight against Islamic State, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Tuesday.
Boehner, who recently re- turned from a Middle East trip with other lawmakers, stopped short of advocating a combat role.
"I wouldn't call it combat. I would call it 'plan and direct;' more engaged in helping the Iraqis fight the fight," the Re- publican Speaker told reporters.
He complained that U. S. mil- itary commanders were too con- strained by the training and advising mandate.
Boehner said he did not know whether the 4,500 U.S. troops left in Iraq following the long war there should be aug- mented. But he added, "I just think there's more that we can do with limited risk and would
Pres. Obama’s nemesis, Republi- can House of Representative Speaker John Boehner.
not require that many people." Alarmed by the advance of Is- lamic State militants across Iraq, President Barack Obama began sending non- combatant troops back to Iraq in the summer for the first time since U. S. forces left the country
in 2011.
Boehner said the Obama
administration needs a clearer, "overarching" strategy for deal- ing with Islamic State through- out the region.
Boehner led a delegation to Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, during Congress' spring re- cess.
The Children Of The
Rich Will Stay Rich
With No Taxes If
Republican Bill Passes
House Republicans this week will vote to hand the heirs and heiresses of America's largest for- tunes a $269 billion tax break by re- pealing the federal inheritance tax.
The legislation would shield the very richest families from taxes on the fortunes they inherit. After years of GOP attacks on the inheri- tance tax, also known as the estate tax. Only individual fortunes worth over $5.43M can be taxed under current law, an amount that dou- bles to $10.86M for wealthy cou- ples. The Republican proposal would eliminate all of these estates -- which are over 15,700% richer than the median American house- hold -- from taxation.
Inheritance taxes are at the cen- ter of the policy debate over eco- nomic inequality. The Republican bill scheduled for a vote this week will eliminating even the limited taxes on family capital.
No Democrats voted for the GOP bill, dubbed the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, in committee. And the legislation wouldn't just eliminate the estate tax -- it would also allow heirs to escape the already-gener- ous capital gains tax on any stocks and real estate they receive.. Moguls could keep their wealth in the stock market and pass it down from generation to generation without ever being taxed.
FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 7-A