Wednesday's Headlines: McCain gives Senate GOP enough votes to pass budget, a boost for Trump’s tax plan

Fact Checker: Trump's incorrect claim that the U.S. is the world's highest-taxed developed nation; Another last-ditch effort to overhaul Obamacare stalls within hours of its...

Democracy Dies in Darkness     The morning's most important stories, selected by Post editors   McCain gives Senate GOP enough votes to pass budget, a boost for Trump's tax plan With Sen. Thad Cochran expected to return from illness and Sen. John McCain saying he supports the budget bill, Republicans have at least 51 votes for their proposal to increase the federal debt. If House goes along, it would be easier to approve the president's pitch for large tax cuts. By Elise Viebeck and Damian Paletta  •  Read more » Fact Checker: Trump's incorrect claim that the U.S. is the world's highest-taxed developed nation A reporter finally asked the president why he keeps making a false claim about U.S. taxes. His answer was, well, Trumpian. By Glenn Kessler  •   Read more »   Another last-ditch effort to overhaul Obamacare stalls within hours of its release Senate GOP leaders did not immediately back a health-care compromise from Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Influential House Republicans panned the plan and the White House sent conflicting signals on it. By Sean Sullivan, Juliet Eilperin and Amy Goldstein  •   Read more »   White House document sees link between social ills and weaker manufacturing sector The internal document that has surfaced amid NAFTA talks was from Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. The claims alarmed some administration officials. By Damian Paletta  •   Read more »   In London, black cabs win a battle against Uber. But is the war over?  Londoners making their taxi choices find themselves in the middle of a debate about work, technology and regulation, as ride-sharing company Uber tangles with the British capital's long-established black-taxi business of old-school drivers who've spent years memorizing every street in the city.   By Karla Adam and William Booth  •   Read more »   'Somebody screwed up here': Trump's 12 days of silence on the combat deaths of four soldiers After Special Forces soldiers died in Africa, a president who often comments on the news said nothing about the incident for several days. President Trump reached out to their families in letters and personal calls after the White House verified detailed information this week, according to an official. But he should have consoled them sooner, critics said. By Philip Rucker and Dan Lamothe  •   Read more »   Kelly tried to keep his son's death out of politics. Trump had other ideas. The president thrust Chief of Staff John Kelly's son, who died in Afghanistan, into the public and political glare, invoking the younger Kelly as part of a continuing attack on former president Barack Obama. By Ashley Parker  •   Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT Opinions   President Trump cooks up a soufflé of dysfunction By Dana Milbank  •   Read more »   Is the president a patriot? By David Von Drehle  •   Read more »   How I found my #MeToo outrage By Kathleen Parker  •   Read more »   Hey, foreign leaders: Here's what you need to know about Trump By David Ignatius  •   Read more »   Congress wants to make Americans with disabilities second-class citizens again By Tammy Duckworth  •   Read more »   Janet Yellen deserves a second term as Fed chair By Editorial Board  •   Read more » ADVERTISEMENT More News   PowerPost • Analysis Longtime foes on foreign policy, McCain and Biden form alliance against Trumpism The two men have forged a new partnership to fight the president's inclination to pull back the U.S. presence on the global stage. By Paul Kane  •  Read more »     The Fix • Analysis The results of this poll should really worry Republicans about 2018 A new poll shows Democrats ahead by 16 points on the "generic ballot." If that were actually to turn out to be the case, we'd be talking about a Democratic landslide. By Aaron Blake  •   Read more »   Trump: 'I want Merry Christmas' While delivering a speech to the Heritage Foundation on Oct. 17, President Trump said store employees should wish "Merry Christmas" to their customers. "I want Merry Christmas," he said. Read more »   WorldViews • Analysis Why the world is watching Xi Jinping and China's party congress China's president may be setting himself up to spend a far longer time holding the reins of power. By Adam Taylor  •   Read more »   With midnight raids and chat-room traps, Egypt cracks down on gay community More than 60 people have been arrested. Some have been beaten and abused in their prison cells, while others have been subjected to forced anal examinations, human rights activists said. By Sudarsan Raghavan  •   Read more »   WorldViews • Analysis Neo-Nazi renounces white supremacist past — and comes out as gay and Jewish Kevin Wilshaw spoke at extreme right events and was arrested for online race hate offenses. Then he shifted allegiances after he suffered abuse because of his sexuality. By Mary Hui  •   Read more »   George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize "Lincoln in the Bardo," a novel describing the night President Lincoln visited his son's body in a Washington graveyard, is the second American work in a row to win the prestigious literary award. By Ron Charles  •   Read more »   Federal judge rules in favor of children who were handcuffed at Kentucky elementary schools The American Civil Liberties Union said the ruling vindicates its position that schools should not use police officers to deal with misbehaving students. By Moriah Balingit  •   Read more »         Share Today's Headlines:    Twitter     Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for Today's Headlines or because it is included in your subscription. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. 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