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Newlywed couple's honeymoon in US Virgin Islands ends with her ICE detention

Newlywed couple's honeymoon in US Virgin Islands ends with her ICE detention

Yahoo14 hours ago

Taahir Shaikh needed headshots for his new job, so he set up an appointment with a photographer named Ward Sakeik. One appointment turned into three photo shoots, and the two just kept talking.
Three years later, the newlywed couple was elated to go on their honeymoon.
But after spending nine days in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the couple's trip ended with Sakeik, 22, being detained for what has become months in several U.S. immigration detention centers.
Sakeik, whose family is from Gaza but is legally stateless, has lived in the U.S. since she was 8, when her family travelled to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum, according to her husband. While she was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago, Sakeik was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "order of supervision," in which she regularly checked in with federal immigration authorities and is permitted work authorization, according to her lawyer and husband.
At the St. Thomas Airport, as the couple prepared to return home on Feb. 11, Sakeik was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection -- and has been held in custody in the months since.
Then, last week, the government attempted to deport Sakeik without informing her where she was being sent, according to Shaikh. Sakeik says an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told her she was being taken to the Israel border, he said. After she waited in the airport for two hours, she was sent back to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where she had recently been transferred.
She later found out this was just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, Shaikh said.
Now, facing a still uncertain future, his wife's family is "fearful beyond imagination," Shaikh, a U.S. citizen, told ABC News.
"She's in a procedural black hole because she's not even eligible for a bond," Shaikh said. "They're saying 'when you were eight years old, you already were given your due process in court.' She doesn't even remember what a courtroom looks like."
Sakeik does not have citizenship in any country, according to her lawyer, Waled Elsaban, and her husband. She was born in Saudi Arabia, which does not assign citizenship at birth to anyone who is not born to Saudi citizens. Sakeik, whose family is from the Gaza Strip, has never been to the Palestinian enclave, and she was not able to obtain legal status or citizenship from there either, her lawyer said.
MORE: Tufts University doctoral student out of ICE custody after judge orders her release
The family came to the U.S. 14 years ago, when she was just 8 years old, Shaikh said.
"Fourteen years ago, my wife has no agency in the decision. She has no idea what's happening. All she knows is that they had refugee status in Saudi Arabia, they weren't given any level of citizenship [and] their work authorization was being stripped from Saudi Arabia," Shaikh said.
The family came to the U.S. on travel visas and sought asylum, Shaikh said.
Years later, Sakeik's asylum case was denied and she and her family were issued deportation orders. Since Saudi Arabia, Israel and neighboring countries were unwilling to accept Sakeik and her family, they were permitted to stay in the U.S. under an "order of supervision" -- a classification that provided them work permits. They were also required to regularly check in with ICE, according to Shaikh and Elsaban.
In the years since she was denied asylum, Sakeik and her family have explored several pathways to obtain visas or citizenship in the U.S., including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and sponsorship, but they were unsuccessful, her husband said.
"There's many stories very similar to my wife's case, where the local immigration courts have accepted it, and for whatever reason, whether it was the lawyer or the legal team at the time, whether it was just a matter of the judge that had their case on the docket, they were denied," Shaikh said.
MORE: Israel-Iran live updates: Multiple B-2 stealth bombers head to Guam, sources say
"My wife has tried every route to adjust her status. Now that she's finally at the finish line and she has a way to get lawful permanent residence, they stripped it from her," Shaikh said.
The couple thought they had prepared for their honeymoon. Months before their wedding, under the Biden administration, the couple called an ICE processing center to ask if they could travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Shaikh said they were told they could.
At the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, the morning of their trip in February, they also asked a Transportation Security Administration representative and an airline representative and were assured they could travel to the islands with just their U.S. driver's licenses, he said.
After being detained at the St. Thomas Airport on their return trip, Shaikh said Sakeik was kept handcuffed on the plane to Miami, where the flight had a layover. The couple was not given a reason for her detention and was initially told she would be released from custody in Miami.
There, the couple was separated. Sakeik was kept in Miami for three weeks before being sent to a detention center in Texas. Sakeik later told her husband she was shackled by the hands and legs as she walked through the airport, he said.
Last week, after more than three months in custody, federal authorities moved to deport Sakeik, according to Shaikh and her attorney.
On the morning of June 12, Sakeik was awakened and told she was being deported, according to her husband.
After many detainees were rounded up, she was taken to the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, her husband said.
MORE: Mahmoud Khalil thanks supporters after release, vows to continue advocating for Palestinians
When she asked for travel documents or to be told where she was being taken, an officer told her she was being taken to the Israeli border, according to Shaikh.
After waiting at the airport for two hours, Sakeik, four other Palestinians and an Egyptian man were returned to detention facilities, according to Shaikh.
"An ICE officer [the next] morning came and said, 'The only reason your plane didn't come is because Israel bombed Iran last night, and there was a safety protocol that no flights were going to be flown into Israel,'" Shaikh told ABC News.
Neither Sakeik nor her attorney were given written notification of where she was being deported, her husband and attorney said. Her attorney sought a stay of removal that would keep her in the U.S. after the government moved to deport her last week, and on Monday he was told her removal "is not imminent," Elsaban told ABC News.
DHS initially told ABC News Sakeik "left the U.S." when she traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands -- a U.S. territory.
"The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by [Customs and Border Patrol] trying to reenter the U.S.," Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to ABC News.
When ABC News asked if the government's stance was that travel to the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, constitutes someone choosing to "leave the country," DHS provided an updated statement.
"She chose to fly over international waters and outside the U.S. customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to reenter the continental U.S.," McLaughlin said in a second statement.
DHS said that Sakeik is in the U.S. illegally.
MORE: Judge rules DHS violated court order in deporting 8 migrants to South Sudan
"She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade," McLaughlin said in the statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S."
McLaughlin said that Sakeik's appeal of the final order of removal was rejected by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2014. "She has exhausted her due process rights and all of her claims for relief have been denied by the courts," the statement said.
DHS did not comment on the order of supervision Sakeik and her attorney say makes her status in the U.S. legal. DHS also did not respond to ABC News' questions asking why Sakeik was detained when she had presented valid travel documents that she says TSA had told her would suffice ahead of her trip or why, according to Sakeik, she was told she would be sent to the Israeli border when she has never lived in the region and is not a national of any country.
DHS also did not respond to whether it was violating a standing court order that bars the removal of migrants to third countries without a proper chance to challenge these removals.
The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to deport migrants. Last month, a federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration's deportations of eight men -- who the administration alleged were convicted of violent crimes -- to South Sudan "unquestionably" violated an earlier order by not giving them adequate due process, including a "meaningful opportunity to object" to their removals to a country other than their own.
Shaikh, who said he has visited his wife 18 times in the months that she's been held in detention, also submitted a green card application for Sakeik in February -- two days after she was detained. Her application is pending.
Referring to his wife's family, Shaikh said, "They don't want to live like this. My wife has tried every route to adjust her status."

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Kidney doctor's shooting comes as questions emerge about dialysis centers
Kidney doctor's shooting comes as questions emerge about dialysis centers

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Kidney doctor's shooting comes as questions emerge about dialysis centers

Dr. Andre Obua drove 18 hours from Miami to Terre Haute, Indiana. He pulled up to the home of a local kidney specialist and allegedly opened fire, striking the kidney doctor in the hand before being wrestled to the ground. The only thing more unexpected than the act of violence was the apparent motive. Accused in the shooting, which occurred one month after the brazen murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City, was Obua, a highly educated medical resident with a promising career. But Obua had become fixated on one of the least-understood corners in the big business of medicine — kidney dialysis. In letters penned from prison, in phone interviews and on a website he created, Obua shared with CBS News his grievances, discussed the Luigi Mangione case in New York, and offered hints to the underpinnings of an alleged act that landed him in jail, where he is awaiting trial on attempted murder charges. He would not directly discuss the shooting and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors in Vigo County, Indiana, said they consider the crime abhorrent — and a source of continued pain for the physician who was shot. CBS News is not naming the victim at the request of prosecutors. Prosecutor Terry R. Modesitt said his office determined the victim "had never done anything to justify having violence brought against him." Modesitt voiced a broader concern about what he said he fears is a growing wave of disturbing vigilante violence that has no place in a civilized society. "These cases that we read about in the news or watch on TV about the news — there's no excuse for this," Modesitt said. "Go out and protest. Write your congressman… file a complaint with the attorney general's office in your state, things like that. But no, there's never any justification to go try to murder someone." Tom Mueller, the author of "How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine," spent more than five years studying the dialysis industry. He says the incident conjures many of the same complex swirl of emotions that Americans expressed after the UnitedHealthcare shooting. There is a visceral disgust for violence used to make a statement, he said. And there is long-running dismay about the shortcomings of America's health care system, which may be costing lives. That includes, he said, a rise of for-profit dialysis clinics and their impact on quality of care for those confronting end-stage kidney disease. "Unless we can talk about systemic harm done by the medical profession, the insurance profession, against patients … we're not gonna get anywhere," Mueller said. Mueller may be uniquely positioned to weigh in on both the crime and the issue that may have been underlying it. For months before the shooting, he told CBS News that he and Obua had been corresponding by email about his book. In those emails, which he described to CBS News, he says Obua never gave any indication he was spiraling towards violence. Mueller only learned of the shooting later, during an interview with CBS News. "I nearly fell off my chair when I heard," Mueller said. "My sense is that [his] level of desperation just must have found an outlet in a violent act." Dialysis under scrutiny LaQuayia "LQ" Goldring, 28, has been a dialysis patient for the past ten years. Goldring lives near Louisville, Kentucky, where she spends up to four and a half hours a day hooked up to a home dialysis machine. It acts as her kidneys, taking the blood from her body, removing the waste, then cycling it back in. "Every day I wake up, I'm thanking God that my feet even hit the ground and that my eyes open and I can still breathe on my own," she said. Goldring is one of roughly 500,000 Americans dependent on dialysis to stay alive as they wait and hope for a kidney transplant, the only available remedy for those suffering from end-stage kidney disease. She receives the treatment at home, and says dialysis clinics left her with no control over her care, treating her like a "check." She, like Mueller, believes the industry has become too focused on profits. "This is emergency room care done in the mall," Mueller said. "People are not given the tailored treatment that they need." A review of federal data by CBS News found one-third of dialysis clinics failed to meet federal standards this year — nearly 2,500 of the roughly 7,600 clinics nationwide. The average score was 60 out of 100 possible points. Criticism of the industry has been disputed by the two largest for-profit companies in the dialysis industry, Fresenius and DaVita. Fresenius told CBS News in a statement that the company maintains an "unwavering focus on improving quality of life, strengthening clinical outcomes, and extending the lifespan of those we have the privilege to serve." DaVita said in a statement that its "dedicated clinicians consistently deliver high-quality, individualized care in a complex clinical and regulatory environment." A health care "duopoly" The two companies dominate the national landscape of clinics where kidney patients come to receive regular dialysis treatments — crucial to keeping them alive. Roughly 90% of patients get their treatment in the outpatient clinics. And together, the two for-profit companies own nearly 75% of all U.S. clinics — nearly 5,600 in total. The companies have become what Mueller calls "a duopoly" as the industry has consolidated over the past three decades. The share of independently owned dialysis facilities fell from 86% to 21% during that period. In over 2,500 cities around the U.S., a single company owns every clinic. That industry dominance has a cost, according to Ryan McDevitt, a Duke University economist who co-authored a study released this month looking at the toll of the scarce competition. "This is the most concentrated health care sector across the entire U.S.," McDevitt said. McDevitt argues that Medicare's limits on how much it reimburses clinics per patient have incentivized DaVita and Fresenius to focus on filling chairs to increase their profit margins. Both companies reject that characterization. Last year alone, DaVita delivered more than 29 million dialysis treatments, earning $391 in revenue per session. That includes providing home dialysis treatments, like Goldring receives through Fresenius. Together, Davita and Fresenius reported a total of $33.7 billion in revenue from all of their businesses. McDevitt said his research found that when independent clinics are acquired by DaVita or Fresenius, their transplant referrals drop by about 10%, their patient survival rates fall by 2%, hospitalizations increase by 5%, and infection rates go up by about 12%. While kidney specialists typically dictate the type of care they want for their patients, some doctors told CBS News they felt pressure from the companies running the dialysis clinics to move patients through faster. Dr. Leonard Stern, a nephrologist now at Columbia University, said even if he believed a patient needed five hours of dialysis treatment, there were times that DaVita would refuse. "We have a corporate model that provides the least amount of care for the most amount of profit for shareholders," Stern said. Stern served as medical director of an independent for-profit dialysis center until 2005, when it was sold to DaVita. After the acquisition, he said there were times the company instructed him to make more room for new patients. He said that sometimes meant more billing for DaVita, even if it resulted in unnecessary complications and return visits for his patients. Stern left the clinic in 2013. Dr. Jeffrey Gold, a kidney specialist in Royal Oak, Michigan, said the doctors feel pressure to "get the next patient in — and make sure everybody has a spot to dialyze." McDevitt described the one-size-fits-all approach as inconsistent with patient needs. "They call it bazooka dialysis, where they pump you through the station as quickly as possible," McDevitt said, comparing the turnover model to any other volume business. "They need to turn over stations multiple times a day to hit those profit numbers, to keep shareholders happy." Reports of deficiencies Most dialysis patients rely on the federal government to pay for the treatment. The costs add up to about $40 billion a year, according to the American Association of Kidney Patients. "It's actually one percent of the entire federal budget, which is a staggering statistic," McDevitt said. Despite the expenditures — about $100,000 per patient, according to McDevitt — the U.S. has among the highest death rates for patients on dialysis among developed nations. For years, health surveyors from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have conducted routine monitoring of dialysis clinics to assess their performance. Since 2013, those officials have cited U.S. dialysis centers for more than 115,000 deficiencies, including poor hand hygiene, unsanitary conditions while handling IV medications, and inadequate training. CMS assigns every facility a "Total Performance Score," evaluating them annually on measures like patient safety, infection control and hospitalization rates. If the score is below CMS standards, the clinic is hit with a financial penalty. A CBS News review of federal data found more than 40% of the clinics run by the nation's two largest dialysis providers — DaVita and Fresenius — failed to meet those same standards this year. That's nearly 1,600 clinics. In separate statements to CBS News, both companies highlighted their performance, saying the data reflects a track record of "exemplary care." Fresenius noted that more than 65% of its dialysis centers received three stars or higher on Medicare's five-star scale — a rate the company said is higher than the national average of all U.S. dialysis providers. The company also said its employees "take immense pride in providing best-in-class, high-quality care to our patients." DaVita said in a statement to CBS News that problems in clinics were "rare and isolated" and represent "exceptions and do not reflect the exemplary care we consistently provide." "We take every concern seriously, and if we make an error, we work immediately to resolve it," DaVita said in its statement. "To mischaracterize such anomalies as systemic care failures is reckless, fear-mongering, and puts patient well-being at risk." Legal settlements top $1 billion The dialysis industry has faced legal scrutiny over the past decade from patients, their surviving relatives, and from state and federal agencies. One ongoing federal case against Fresenius accuses the firm of trying to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds by performing unnecessary procedures — an allegation the company denies. The two companies have settled at least 25 lawsuits. And CBS News has found that since 2015, Fresenius and DaVita paid out at least $1.13 billion in legal settlements. "I have not seen any improvement in care following these settlements," McDevitt said. A spiral towards violence Frustration over the lack of reform in the industry has been simmering for years, Mueller told CBS News. Which is why Mueller said he was not unnerved as he exchanged emails with a Miami-based medical resident who had taken an interest in dialysis — and specifically, the use of a specific medication he thought could be harming patients. "The kinds of emails he sent were totally rational, very thoughtful, extremely data-driven," Mueller said, calling Andre Obua "the last person in the world I would think to commit a violent act." Over dozens of pages, the letters Obua sent to CBS News from jail describe how he grew up in a low-income household in Ann Arbor, Michigan — a background that "shaped my world views and motivates me to advocate for the less fortunate," he wrote. He says he first heard during an internal medical rotation about the use of a medication being prescribed to kidney patients to speed up the dialysis process, which he speculated could be endangering their health. It appears from his writing that this concern went from being an interest to being an obsession. At one point, he described seeking out a lawyer to file a whistleblower lawsuit, but was ultimately persuaded he could not succeed in court. CBS News sought to verify his claims, but no kidney expert interviewed believed that the medication in question harmed patients. Nevertheless, Obua unspooled mountains of his research, theories and accusations on a public website. A source familiar with the case told CBS News Obua had drawn up a list of kidney doctors to target. Near the top was the victim of his attack in Indiana. In January, for reasons Obua would not directly address in his letters and conversations with CBS News, the 29-year-old said he loaded his car with firearms and a bag of Monopoly money — which he noted was similar to the one left behind by alleged UnitedHealthcare shooter Luigi Mangione — and headed north towards Indiana. Police reports say Obua fired at a Terre Haute kidney specialist without warning, striking the doctor in the hand. The two wrestled in the tranquil suburban driveway until police arrived and placed Obua under arrest. Mueller shakes his head when thinking about the bright future Obua seemingly abandoned that winter evening. "It says we're living in extreme times," he said. "And it's a tragic, tragic event." Modesitt, the prosecutor, said he has no sympathy for the young medical resident who's now facing attempted murder charges. "If you've got a problem in any way with the system or anything else, we have attorney generals, we have secretary of states, different entities that you can file a complaint with," Modesitt said. "But it's never justified to take the law in your own hands." Obua is scheduled to go on trial in August. Full statement of DaVita: Our dedicated clinicians consistently deliver high-quality, individualized care in a complex clinical and regulatory environment. We understand that in any healthcare setting, rare and isolated incidents may occur. However, these are diligently addressed as exceptions and do not reflect the exemplary care we consistently provide. We take every concern seriously, and if we make an error, we work immediately to resolve it. To mischaracterize such anomalies as systemic care failures is reckless, fear-mongering, and puts patient well-being at risk. Full statement of Fresenius Medical Care: Providing high-quality care is our standard, and nothing gets in the way of our patients being our North Star. By any objective measure, our ability to hire qualified staff, deliver outstanding – best-in-class – patient care, and innovate for the betterment of people living with kidney disease far outpaces the industry. This is evidenced by the fact that the most recently available CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) 5-Star quality data, which concluded that more than 65% of all Fresenius Kidney Care (FKC) dialysis centers received 3 stars or higher – higher than the combined national average of all U.S. dialysis providers. Our approximately 70,000 employees and care teams, working across more than 2,600 dialysis centers, and delivering over 31 million treatments annually in the U.S. take immense pride in providing best-in-class, high-quality care to our patients. And our ability to introduce revolutionary advancements and innovation in kidney care, including the upcoming introduction of the 5008X™ CAREsystem in the U.S. that will deliver high-volume hemodiafiltration starting later in 2025, demonstrates our unwavering focus on improving quality of life, strengthening clinical outcomes, and extending the lifespan of those we have the privilege to serve. Netanyahu reacts to U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites Some key Democratic congressional leaders left out of Trump's Iran attack plans Extended interview: LQ Goldring on her quest for a kidney donor

What the business world has to like (and not) in the Senate version of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
What the business world has to like (and not) in the Senate version of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

Yahoo

time28 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

What the business world has to like (and not) in the Senate version of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

The business community has some clear wins in a Senate version of President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" but it isn't getting everything it wants. The Senate's Finance Committee's 549-page blueprint contains significant changes, especially on taxes, Medicaid funding, and clean energy. One proposal was quickly embraced by the business community: a Senate-side push to make corporate tax deductions permanent around things like interest payments and new capital investments. But a less popular idea is the survival of the so-called revenge tax that would allow the government to levy new duties on foreign nations and their businesses. That idea was introduced in the House version and sparked fears of reduced foreign investment. The version released last Monday pares back the tax but doesn't eliminate it entirely, as corporate lobbyists had asked. Specific industries also have plenty at stake from Senate changes if they make it into law. Businesses that work in clean energy will have more time to adjust to the phase-out of Biden-era credits. Restaurants and gig economy companies have more limited tax breaks for tips and overtime. Healthcare providers will also have to adjust to even steeper cuts to Medicaid's provider tax structure — perhaps the most surprising and significant overall change in the Senate version. What the Senate version of the bill doesn't appear to have — as Elon Musk and others had pushed for — is a significant change in the final price tag. Both versions are expected to add trillions of dollars to the debt. The Senate version also raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, compared with $4 trillion in the House version. The bill does have one clear cost-saving measure: slashing the annual deduction for individual state and local taxes (SALT) from $40,000 to $10,000. But that provision is described even in the bill's official summary as "the subject of continuing negotiations," with defenders of the deduction pledging to restore the full credit forthwith. The Senate version earned a quick flurry of Republican pledges — from fiscal hawks to defenders of those SALT deductions to those who object to the Medicaid cuts — to vote no if the final version isn't changed to their liking. "We're not seriously addressing our long-term deficit and debt," Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told reporters soon after the unveiling, reiterating that he remains a no. The back and forth comes just weeks ahead of Republicans' self-imposed deadline to get the bill to the president's desk by July 4. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said sticking to that timeline means Senate passage by the end of this coming week. Ed Mills of Raymond James offered in a note that "we continue to view the July 4 target as ambitious" — suggesting that SALT and Medicaid provisions in particular could be under continued debate in the days ahead. Here is a closer look at some of the major business world changes being proposed by the Senate: A key focus for business owners is a series of tax deductions that will reinstate credits for corporations around things like property depreciation, capital investments, new factory construction, interest expenses, and research and development costs. These provisions were present in the House version but only temporarily. Permanency was a key Senate priority once they took over, even as it is expected to increase the price tag. The bill "powers the economy by permanently extending critical pro-growth provisions and introduces new incentives for domestic investment, providing certainty for American job creators to spur domestic economic activity and invest in their workers," offered Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo as he unveiled these provisions. The Senate version also enhances credits for "opportunity zones," which provide tax relief in rural and distressed communities. The bill also includes Trump's campaign promises of no taxes on tips and overtime, but in a more limited form. Employees would be able to deduct up to $25,000 annually for tips and overtime, in contrast to the House's approach of 100% deductibility under certain income limits. The Senate blueprint also includes a rollback of clean energy credits for things like solar panels and electric vehicles. The changes in the Senate would make that phaseout slower — zeroing out some key credits by 2028 — but with a bottom line that Republicans across the spectrum are united in eliminating these benefits entirely. Amy Hanauer, executive director of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, reacted to the released proposal by saying that "the emerging clean energy economy will be curtailed and for what?" "Our communities will be worse off as a result of this legislation,' she added. On the fossil fuel side, the Senate bill continues to include changes to make permitting less laborious, open up new lease sales, and reverse a fee on excess methane emissions. The Senate bill also includes a controversial plan to limit the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence. The Senate's provisions are less airtight, stopping short of the outright ban proposed by the House, but are expected to remain a point of contention and potentially an issue for the Senate parliamentarian, given the Senate's complex reconciliation rules. Other changes in the bill appear to cut against business interests at least slightly. The Senate bill makes permanent the so-called pass-through deduction — formally called a 199A deduction for small businesses — but at the current rate of 20%. The House version also had permanency, but at a higher rate of 23%. Meanwhile, a clear focus of business lobbyist ire has remained in the bill, but in a slightly diminished form: the so-called revenge tax. This idea would allow a president to punish companies and countries if they adhere to foreign laws that policymakers find objectionable. In Trump's case, things like the digital services taxes that often hit tech companies overseas. The Senate version, in a nod to the flurry of concerns, set a maximum rate of 15% and delayed implementation until 2027 but kept the concept intact. In addition to that tax, the SALT and Medicaid changes are likely to be most in focus in the days and weeks ahead. Tobin Marcus of Wolfe Research noted Tuesday morning that "SALT changes underscore the reality that this is another step forward in negotiations, not the final answer." He added that "we still view late July as the real deadline." This story has been updated. Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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