AP News in Brief 12-17-17

Trump defends tax plan, proclaims economy set ‘to rock’

WASHINGTON — Closing in on the first major legislative achievement of his term, President Donald Trump on Saturday defended the Republican tax cut as a good deal for the middle class while boldly suggesting it could lead to explosive economic growth.

The legislation, which the GOP aims to muscle through Congress next week, would lower taxes on the richest Americans. Benefits for most other taxpayers would be smaller, but Trump attempted to sell the bill as a “Christmas present” for middle-class Americans in part because it would trigger job growth.

“It’ll be fantastic for the middle-income people and for jobs, most of all,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before traveling to Camp David for the weekend. “And I will say that because of what we’ve done with regulation and other things our economy is doing fantastically well, but it has another big step to go and it can’t take that step unless we do the tax bill.”

No stranger to hyperbole, Trump also predicted the legislation would cause the economy to soar beyond its current 3 percent rate of growth.

“I think we could go to 4, 5 or even 6 percent, ultimately,” the president said. “We are back. We are really going to start to rock.”

A CDC ban on ‘fetus’ and ‘transgender?’ Experts alarmed

NEW YORK — Health leaders say they are alarmed about a report that officials at the nation’s top public health agency are being told not to use certain words or phrases in official budget documents, including “fetus,” ”transgender” and “science-based.”

The health community was reacting to a story in The Washington Post, which, published late Friday citing an anonymous source, said the prohibition was made at a recent meeting of senior budget officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seven words and phrases — “diversity,” ”entitlement,” ”fetus,” transgender,” ”vulnerable,” ”evidence-based” and “science-based” — were not to be used in documents that are to be circulated within the federal government and Congress in preparation of the next presidential budget proposal, the paper reported.

On Saturday, a CDC official confirmed there was a recent meeting in which CDC officials were given feedback from the higher ranks of the federal government to reconsider language in draft budget documents. But she said she did not know if there was any specific prohibition about using those seven words. She spoke on condition of anonymity, saying she was not authorized to talk about what happened.

A spokesman at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC, said in a statement that it’s a mischaracterization to say the CDC was banned from using certain words. But HHS officials did not clarify or answer any other questions.

The Atlanta-based CDC is in charge of responding to infectious disease outbreaks, like Ebola and Zika, and tracking a wide range of chronic diseases and other health problems.

Vatican issues new rules for relics in saint-making process

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s saint-making office has updated its rules governing the use of relics for would-be saints, issuing detailed new guidelines Saturday that govern how body parts and cremated remains are to be obtained, transferred and protected for eventual veneration.

The instructions explicitly rule out selling the hair strands, hands, teeth and other body parts of saints that often fetch high prices in online auctions. They also prohibit the use of relics in sacrilegious rituals and warn that the church may have to obtain consent from surviving family members before unearthing the remains of candidates for sainthood.

Bodily relics are an important part of Catholic tradition, since the body is considered to be the “instrument” of the person’s saintliness. Beatification and canonization Masses often feature the relic being ceremoniously brought to the altar in an elaborate display case and allowing the faithful to publicly venerate the new blessed or saint for the first time.

Officials said the new guidelines were necessary given some obstacles that had arisen since the rules were last revised in 2007, particularly when surviving relatives and church officials disagreed. One current case before a U.S. appeals court concerns a battle over the remains of Fulton Sheen, an American archbishop known for his revolutionary radio and television preaching in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sheen’s niece went to court to force the archdiocese of New York to transfer Sheen’s body from the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to Peoria, Illinois, where Sheen was born, ordained a priest and where his sainthood cause has been launched by Peoria’s bishop.

For GOP, tax bill’s most visible win may be averting failure

WASHINGTON — Despite the sheer size and society-spanning impact of the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, the quickest and most potent political victory that Republicans would savor by pushing the bill through Congress next week may be what it averts: another big GOP legislative crash in the age of Trump.

Even if Republicans are correct that tax cuts for business and the wealthy bolster the economy, it can take time for obvious results to show. And even with millions of families likely to enjoy lower taxes, many won’t feel much until they file their 2018 tax returns in early 2019. That’s well after the November 2018 elections that may be a coin flip for control of Congress, and recent races suggest those contests may be heavily influenced by President Donald Trump’s unpopularity.

Approval of the tax bill seems certain, with House passage assured and two of the few potential Senate GOP opponents lining up Friday behind the measure: Marco Rubio of Florida and Tennessee’s Bob Corker. That means a White House signing ceremony, probably by Christmas.

Republicans hope that would overshadow their embarrassing failure to repeal President Barack Obama’s health law. Another flop would have infuriated GOP backers and donors already enraged by the Affordable Care Act debacle, fueling hard-right primary challenges against Republican incumbents or encouraging conservatives to stay home in November.

If the tax bill isn’t approved, “the country’s reaction is going to be, ‘Why did we put you in in the first place?’” said David Winston, a GOP pollster who advises congressional leaders.

Special counsel obtains thousands of Trump transition emails

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign has gained access to thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration, according to several people familiar with Trump’s transition organization.

But the investigators did not directly request the records from Trump’s still-existing transition group, Trump for America, and instead obtained them from a separate federal agency that stored the material, according to those familiar with the Trump transition organization.

A transition attorney sent letters Saturday to two congressional committees saying the General Services Administration had improperly provided the transition records to Mueller’s investigators. Kory Langhofer, general counsel for the transition group, wrote to the Republican chairmen of the House Oversight committee and the Senate Homeland Security committee about what the transition contends was an “unauthorized” disclosure of its emails.

The GSA has provided office space and other aid to presidential transitions in recent years and typically houses electronic transition records in its computer system. But Trump for America considers the records private and privileged and not government property.

The people familiar with the transition organization spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the records’ sensitivity.

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After Alabama, abortion may be backseat issue in 2018 races

ATLANTA (AP) — Alabama, one of the most conservative states in the country, with one of the most evangelical electorates, is sending an abortion-rights supporter to the U.S. Senate, despite GOP efforts to paint Democrat Doug Jones as an unacceptable extremist on the issue.

Certainly, any analysis of what Jones’ upset over Roy Moore means for other races involves a caveat: The Republican nominee was twice ousted from the state Supreme Court and stood accused of sexual misconduct with minors, baggage that gave Jones an opening in a state that hadn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1992.

Yet Jones could not have won without crossover votes from conservative Republicans who oppose abortion, and that’s just what he did.

Exit polls show Jones won a third of voters who said abortion should be illegal in most cases, and 27 percent of those who want it outlawed completely.

These numbers suggest that abortion may not necessarily be a defining issue in the 2018 midterm elections.

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‘A Prairie Home Companion’ name becomes ‘Live from Here’

NEW YORK (AP) — “A Prairie Home Companion” has been given a new name — “Live from Here” — in the wake of creator Garrison Keillor’s acrimonious split with Minnesota Public Radio.

Chris Thile, the mandolin virtuoso who has hosted the weekly variety show since Keillor’s retirement last year, announced the new name Saturday evening as the show opened a live performance in New York City.

MPR terminated its contracts with Keillor after it said it had received multiple allegations of improper conduct by Keillor. MPR has declined to give any details except to say the allegations involved treatment of one woman who had worked with Keillor when he was still with the show.

Keillor has said he accidentally touched a woman’s bare back while trying to console her.

Wildfire burns beloved burros in South Dakota’s Custer park

Nine burros that are a favorite of visitors to South Dakota’s Custer State Park have been burned in a wildfire and it’s not known if all of them will survive, a park official said Saturday.

The park reported Saturday morning that all nine burros had been found — a day after three of them were reported missing and feared dead in the wildfire that has consumed more than 84 square miles. But all nine were burned and are being treated by a veterinarian. Some were not injured as badly as others, but their chances of survival and the severity of their injuries might not be known for some time, said park visitor services program manager Kobee Stalder.

“It’s a very sensitive situation at the moment,” Stalder said. “We’re treating them and we are trying to do everything we can to help them, and it’s kind of a waiting game.”

Stadler said the burros are getting antibiotics and pain medication, as well as food and water.

The burro herd was affected by the fire more than any other herd in the park. By Friday, the majority of the park’s popular bison herd, which numbers about 860, had been located and appeared to be doing fine. The majority of elk herds were also found and pronghorn antelope are now starting to come out of the woods and have been seen grazing, Stadler said.