House votes to undo immigration actions

House votes to undo immigration actions

WASHINGTON

Shunning a White House veto threat and opposition within their own party, House Republicans approved legislation Wednesday to overturn President Barack Obama’s key immigration policies and expose hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants to expulsion from the U.S.

The 236-191 vote came on a broad bill that would provide $39.7 billion to finance the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the budget year, legislation that lawmakers of both parties said was sorely needed to pay for counterterrorism, cybersecurity and other priorities at a moment when the Paris terror attacks have underscored dire threats.

US journalist indicted in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran

A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran for months has been indicted and will stand trial, Iran’s state news agency reported Wednesday, without elaborating on what charges he faced.

The report by the official IRNA news agency came the same day as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif before talks with world powers resume over the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the two events were connected, though Zarif earlier said he hoped the case against reporter Jason Rezaian could be “resolved.”

Lawmaker sworn in despite conviction

RICHMOND, Va.

A newly re-elected Virginia lawmaker hitched a ride from the jailhouse to the statehouse to be sworn in, even as legislative leaders discussed how to throw him out.

Delegate Joseph D. Morrissey, who spends his nights in jail because of a sex-scandal conviction, was back in his familiar legislative arena Wednesday but with a whole new set of circumstances: Colleagues ignored him, he was stripped of committee assignments, he had to give up his old office and his desk on the House floor was put in a far corner.

Study: Fewer are struggling with medical costs

WASHINGTON

Not only do more Americans have health insurance, but the number struggling with medical costs has dropped since President Barack Obama’s health care law expanded coverage, according to a study released today.

The Commonwealth Fund’s biennial health insurance survey found that the share of U.S. adults who did not get needed care because of cost dropped from 43 percent in 2012 to 36 percent last year, as the health care law’s main coverage expansion went into full swing.

The proportion of people who got treatment but had problems paying their bills also dropped, from 41 percent in 2012 to 35 percent last year.

It was the first time that either measure of financial distress declined since the survey began asking the questions, in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

IS losing ground in Kobani battle

BEIRUT

With more than a thousand militants killed and territory slipping away, the Islamic State group is losing its grip on the Syrian border town of Kobani under intense U.S.-led airstrikes and astonishingly stiff resistance by Kurdish fighters.

It is a stunning reversal for the Islamic State group, which just months ago stood poised to conquer the entire town — and could pierce a carefully crafted image of military strength that helped attract foreign fighters and spread horror across the Middle East.

Associated Press