House puts its stamp on defense bill
WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval Friday to a sweeping defense bill that would put a liberal stamp on military policy, shackling President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war in Iran and Yemen, restricting the use of military funds at the southwestern border, and returning transgender troops to the armed forces.
The $ 733 billion National Defense Authorization Act was passed along party lines — 220- 197 — with Republicans uniting to oppose the legislation. The defense policy bill has traditionally been a bipartisan exercise, but House Republicans have come out strongly against this year’s version.
The bill still must be reconciled with a Senate version. And it is likely Senate negotiators will try to strip out many of the House’s liberal- leaning provisions.
Defense system arrives
ISTANBUL — Turkey has begun taking delivery of Russia’s S- 400 air defense system, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Friday, completing a deal that has threatened its standing in NATO and is likely to trigger sanctions from the United States.
The first components for the system arrived Friday at Murted Air Base in Ankara, the Turkish capital, the ministry said. Turkish television stations broadcast footage of the delivery as Russian cargo planes arrived at the base and equipment was offloaded.
The purchase underscored President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasing willingness to coordinate with Russia and risked a new crisis in relations between Turkey and the United States. Although U. S. law mandates sanctions against countries making “significant” deals with the Russian defense industry, the Trump administration has given mixed signals about how exactly it might respond if Turkey went through with the purchase.
New charges filed
LANCASTER, Pa. — A convicted sex offender went on to establish an orphanage in Kenya and preyed on children under the guise of missionary work, said federal prosecutors, who announced Friday that he was being charged with sexually molesting four teenage girls.
Gregory Dow, 60, is accused of four counts of violating a U. S. law against sexual contact with minors in foreign countries, U. S. Attorney William McSwain said. There likely are other victims, investigators said, but tracking the children who lived in the orphanage has been difficult.
Dow is accused of abuse from 2013- 2017, when prosecutors say he fled back to the U. S. to avoid prosecution in Kenya. The Dow Family Children’s Home in Boito closed in September 2017.
Compensation OK’d
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted Friday to add billions of dollars to a dwindling compensation fund for 9/ 11 workers, in legislation honoring a former New York City police detective who had beseeched Congress to take care of those who are sick or dying after laboring in toxic debris sites.
The House voted 402- 12 in favor of the legislation, which was amended days ago to honor Luis Alvarez, a New York Police Department first responder who told lawmakers on June 11: “You all said you would never forget. Well, I’m here to make sure that you don’t.”
He died less than three weeks later.